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AUTHOR: 


WINDHAM,  WILLIAM 


TITLE: 


SPEECH  OF  THE 
RT.HON  WILLIAM 


A  JLjitL %^ KL'  • 


LONDON 


DA  TE : 


1810 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


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BIBUOGR  AI IIIC  MICROFORM TARHFT 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


\V     w....  ..u».  ...... 

Speech... in  the  House  of  commons,  May. ••26th, 
1809f  on  Mr.    Curwen^s  bill    *for  better  securing  the  in- 

dcreniitr-.ce    a::d  ruritv   of  Pari! aisent   ••• 


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MflNUFfiCTURED   TO   RUM   STfiNDRRDS 
BY  fiPPLIED   IMRGE,    INC. 


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V 


SPEECH, 


OF  THE 


RT.  HON.  WILLIAM  WINDHAM, 


IK  THE 


HOUSE  OF  COMMONS, 

*  MAY  THE  26th,  1809; 


ON 


MR.  CURWEN^S  BILL, 

"  FOR  BETTER  SECURING  THE  INDEPEN-. 
"  DENCE  AND  PURITY  OF  PARLIAMENT, 
"  BY  PREVENTING  THE  PROCURING  OR 
"  OBTAINING      OF      SEATS      BY      CORRUPT 

"  practices/' 


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PRINTED  FOR  J.  BUDD,  PALL-MALL. 


1810. 


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ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  Speech  is  printed,  with  only 
a  few  slight  corrections  and  additions,  from 
a  copy  which  was  prepared  by  a  collation  of 
the  reports  in  the  different  newspapers,  and 
is  inserted  in  the  Fourteenth  Volume  of  Cob- 
bett's  Parliamentary  Debates. 

It  has  been  republished  in  the  present 
shape,  for  the  accommodation  of  some  gentle- 
men, who  had  been  desirous  of  a  few  separate 
copies,  which,  for  want  of  timely  notice 
to  the  printer,  could  not  be  supplied  when 
the  impression  was  struck  off  for  the  Parlia- 
mentary Debates. 

January  1 9th,  1810. 


1 


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SPEECH, 

4c. 


Mr.  WINDHAM  rofe  and  faid:— Sir;  I  am  well  fatis- 
fied  to  have  heard,  before  I  addrefs  you,  the  fpeeches  of  the 
two  hon.  gentlemen  who  havelaft  fat  down,  as  thofe  fpeeches 
will  have  helped  to  recall  our  attention  to  the  queftion  more 
immediately  before  us,  from  which  the  fpeech  of  the  hon. 
baronet  (fir  F.  Burdeit)  had  in  fome  meafure  led  us  away, 
though  not  to  any  topics,  which  I  mean  to  defcribe,  or  which 
I  wilh  the  houfe  to  confider,  as  unconnected  with  the  fubject. 
Thofe  topics  are  indeed  moft  clofcly  connected  with  it,  as 
they  are  in  themfelves  alfo  of  a  nature  and  character,  to 
which  I  muft  not  fail  hereafter  to  advert,  and  with  which 
the  houfe  will  I  hope  be  duly  imprefled. 

In  the  mean  while,  I  muft  fairly  profefs,  that  upon  the 
fubject  of  the  queftion  immediately  fubmitted  to  us,  I  have 
found  no  reafon,  from  any  thing  that  I  have  heard  to  night  or 
upon  other  occafions,  or  that  my  own  reflections  or  inqui- 
ries have  furnifbed,  to  alter  the  opinions  with  which  I  took 
the  liberty  of  troubling  the  houfe  on  the  night  on  which  it 
was  firft  brought  forward.  I  equally  think  it  a  meafure  ill- 
timed,  injudicious,  founded  upon  falfe  views,  falfe  facts,  and 
falfe  afsumptions,  calculated  to  produce  no  good  in  the  firfl: 
inftance,  and  liable  and  likely  to  lead  to  the  moft  ferious  mif- 
chiefs  in  future. 

B 


u 


>  I 


l!S"'T 


■>. 


•  A 


o 


\ 


The  whole  meafure  reds,  ill,  upoa  an*afsumption,  which, 
in  the  fenfe  in  which  it  li  ufed,,3nd  the.extent  to  which  it  is 
carried,  I  utterly  deny,  namely,  that  the  tranfactions  in  quef- 
lion  are  corrupt;  and,  2dly,  upon  a  pofition,  which  is  true  in- 
deed, but  of  no  effect  or  operation  without  the  other,  namely, 
that  acts  criminal  ani  abufive  in  tliemfelves,  cannot  be  pro- 
tected by  the  length  of  time  that  they  have  been  fuffered  to 
prevail,  or  by  the  number  or  authority  of  the  perfons,  who 
have  been  found  to  practife  them. 

Nobody  pretends  to  fay,  that  fraud,  falfehood,  theft,  rob- 
bery,  the  whole  lift  of  crimes  by  which   focicty  is  disfigured 
and  injured,  though  co-eval  and  co-extenfive  with  fociety  it- 
felf,  are  for  that  leafon  lefs  crimes,  or  call   lefs  for  reproba- 
tion and  punifliment,  than  they  did  at  their  firft  appearance  in 
the  world.     There  are  innumerable  offences  and  depravities, 
which  no  authority  can  fupport,  or  fanction,  but  which  will 
to  the  end  of  time  pull  down  the  character  and  reputation  of 
all  thofe,  be  they  who  they  may,  who  (hall  be  found  to  h«.vc 
been  guilty  ot  them*     Wliat  we  are  to  inquire  is,  whether 
the  afts  now  meant  to  be  proceeded  againft,  are  of  that  fort  ? 
whether  they  are,   like   many  others,   afts  which  thofe  who 
commit  them  know  at  the  time  to  be  wrong,  though  under 
tlie  impulfe  of  ftrong  temptation  they  may  not  have  the  virtue 
to  abftain  from  them ;  which  degrade  the  perfon  ib  his  own 
opinion,  and  would,  if  known,  degrade  him  in  that  of  others; 
which  he  is  compelled  to  condemn  at   the  very  moment  he 
yields  to  them;  which  are  attended  in  the  immediate  inftance 
with  injury  to  others  ;  ®r,  at  leaft,  tend  to  weaken  the  au- 
thority and  obfervance  of  fome  rule,  which  the  interefls  of 
fociety  require   to  be  upheld  ?     Let  us  confider  how  the 
matter  Hands  in  refpect  to  the  nature  and  defeription  of  the 
fact.     Let  us  open  the  pleadmgs  by  ftating  the  cafc» 

A  mlnifter  in  the  time  of  Geo.  L  or  queen  Anne,  or  king 
William,  has  a  friend  come  to  him,  at  the  moment  of  a  ge- 
neral election,  who  fay*»     *  I  have  a  great  intereft  ia  the 


Forougli  of  fuch  a  place.  I  have  a  large  property,  and  I 
have  laid  out  a  great  deal  of  money,  there  ;  I  have  obliged, 
in  various  ways,  numbers  of  the  voters  and  their  connec- 
iions ;  many  are  dependent  on  me,  many  look  up  to  me  for 
favours  that  they  have  received,  or  favours  they  expect ;  la 
ihort,  I  may  venture  to  fay,  that  I  can  bring  in  both  mem- 
bers. One  of  the  feats  I  muft;  rcferve  for  my  fon ;  but  for 
the  other  I  fhall  be  very  happy  to  take  by  the  hand  any  one 
whom  you  will  recommend.  I  have  been  always,  as  you 
know,  warmly  attached  to  you  and  your  friends ;  and  anxious 
to  give  every  fupport  in  my  power  to  a  fet  of  men,  whom  I 
have  always  acted  with  in  and  out  of  office,  and  whom  I  re- 
joice to  fee  in  their  prefent  fituations,  becaufe  I  think  thera 
in  my  confcience  the  fitteft  men  to  whom  the  interefts  of  the 
country  can  be  entrufted :  I  want  nothing  for  myfelf,  and 
ftiould  be  very  glad  to  offer  this  feat  to  your  friend  free  of  all 
cxpencc  ;  but  the  fums  which  1  have  been  obliged  to  lay  out 
in  cultivating  this  interell ;  the  property  which  I  have  been 
obliged  to  purchafe,  on  terms  yielding  but  a  very  inadequate 
return  in  point  of  income ;  the  heavy  charges  incurred  in 
fupporting  th«  rights  of  the  freemen  in  the  two  laft  contefts, 
joined  to  the  probable  expence  of  the  prefent  election,  will 
oblige  me,  towards  replacing  in  part  what  thefe  will  have 
coft  me,  to  require  a  fum  to  fuch  and  fuch  an  amount,  from 
the  friend,  whoever  he  is,  whom  you  (hall  recommend.* — The 
minifter  fays,  *  I  am  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  :  nothing 
could  come  more  opportunely:  I  have  at  this  moncnt,  a 
young  man,  the  fon  of  our  friend  Lord  Such-a-One,  for  whoia 
I  am  moft  anxious  to  procure  the  means  of  his  getting  into 
Parliament,  not  only  on  account  of  our  friend  his  father,  but 
because  he  is  a  young  man  of  moft  extraordinary  promife, 
with  his  whole  mind  turned  to  public  bufinefs,  and  likely  to 
become  in  time  one  of  the  grcateft  ornaments  and  fupportt  of 
the  country.  His  father  will,  I  am  fure,  have  no  objection 
to  advance  the  fum  which  you  require,  and  which  is  very  mo- 
derate ;  and  you  will,  I  am  perfuaded,  be  happy  in  introduc- 
ing into  public  life  a  young  man  likely  to  do  fo  much  credit 
to  your  recommendation.' 


1-1 


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I  «♦' 


AH  this  I  am  taught  to  undcrlland  iggrofsly  corrupt,  much 
in  the  fame  way  as  any  act  of  peculation  or  embezzlement. 
— I  can  only  fay  in  tlic'irft  inftance  that  I  am  forry 
for  it :  becaufe  fome  fuch  things  have  I  am  afraid  been 
done  even  in  the  beft  times,  and  by  thofe  commonly 
accounted  the  beft  men.  I  am  forry  to  be  obliged  to  part 
with  fo  much  of  the  admiration  which  I  have  been  accuf- 
tomed  to  feel  for  fuppofed  virtue  and  character,  and  to  con- 
fefs  that  thofe  eminent  men,  early  and  recent,  whom  we 
have  hitherto  looked  up  to  as  patterns  of  virtue  and  the  pride 
and  ornament  of  the  country,  were  little  better  than  corrupt 
knaves.  It  is  painful,  1  fay,  to  part  with  thefe  convictions, 
and  to  be  compelled  to  confefs  the  world  Icfs  virtuous  than 
we  had  fuppofed  it.  It  may  be  forgiven  to  us,  therefore,  if 
we  make  fome  ftruggle  in  defence  of  our  former  opinions, 
and  if  I  venture  to  afk,  as  an  humble  inquirer,  and  for  the 
fake  of  information,  what  is  the  precifc  nature  and  character 
of  this  corruption,  and  in  what  part  of  the  tranfaction,  that  is 
to  fay,  with  which  of  the  parties,  it  is  fuppofed  principally  to 
refide. 

As  to  the  minifter,  who  is  the  party  firft  feized  upon,  and 
againft  whom  the  charge  is  moft  preffed,  his  guilt  can  be  only 
derivative  and  dependent  on  that  of  others.  He  is  only  the 
go-between,  the  broker,  the  procurefs,  if  you  pleafe,  who 
brings  the  parties  together  :  but  unlefs  the  parties  meet  for 
fome  ill  purpofe,  his  office  is  innocent.  Of  the  two  remain- 
ing parties  then,  which  is  the  moft  criminal,  the  giver  or  the 
receiver  ?  the  buyer  or  the  feller?  or  is  their  guilt  equal  ? 
Let  us  know  a  little  more  diftinctly,  what  is  the  rule  and  prin- 
ciples which  we  mean  to  lay  down. 

Is  it  meant  to  be  ftated  generally,  that  no  place  of  truft 
and  confidence,  no  place  to  which  important  duties  are  an- 
nexed, ftiall  bedifpofed  of  for  a  valuable  conlideration  ?  that 
the  fale  o\  a  place  of  truft  is,  in  all  circumftances  and  in  every  ' 
inftance,  a  corrupt  and  criminal  tranfaction  ?  If  it  is,  then 
does  both  the  law  and  the  practice  of  various  countries,  and  of 


5 

this  country  among  others,  fanction  and  authorife  moft  cor- 
rupt and  criminal  tranfactions.     I  would  quote,  in  the  firft 
inftance,  the  whole  of  the  parliaments  under  the  old  monar- 
chy of  France  ;  which,  though  not  parliaments  in  our  fenfe 
of  the  word,  were  of  a  nature  to  make  the  difpofal  of  feats 
in  them  for  money,  a  proceeding,  if  it  were  wrong  at  all,  in- 
finitely more  wrong  than  the  fame   proceeding   would  be 
here.     For  the  parliaments  in  France  were  judicial  tribunals, 
courts  of  judicature,  in  which  the  whole  civil  and  criminal 
juftice  of  that  renowned  and  enlightened  kingdom,  was  admi- 
niftered  ;  and  where,  in  fpite  of  thofe  vulgar  national  preju- 
dices, under  which  we  have  fometimes  been  thought-to  la- 
bour,  and    which  lead   us  to  believe  that  nothing   can  be 
right  or  good,  but  what  is  conformable  to  our  peculiar  no- 
tions and  inftitutions,  juftice  was,  for  the  moft  part,  I  believe, 
moft  ably  and  uprightly  adminiftered,  and  where  certainly  as 
great  and  eminent  lawyers  and  jurifts   have  been  produced, 
and  men  of  as  pure  and  unfpotted  character,   as  are  to  be 
found  in  the  legal  hiUory  of  any  country  whatever.     Yet 
were  all  the  feats  in  thefe  aflemblies,  regularly,  publicly,  and 
avowedly  bought  and  fold.     So  little  do  the  effects  of  civil 
and  political  inftitutions,  or  the  laws  relating  to  them,  anfwer 
in  fact  and  practice  to  what  the  theories  even  of  the  wifeft 
and  beft  informed  men,  would  previoufly  pronounce  of  them  ! 
That  thefe  tribunals,  whether  fuch  or  not  as  1  have  defcribed 
them,  could  not  be  fuch  as  our  coarfe  and  narrow  prejudices, 
or  our  hafty  andinconfideraie  theories,  would  lead  us  to  fup- 
pofe,  is  demonrtrable  from  the  fact.      For  no  country,  much 
lefs  fuch  a  one  as  I  am  adverting  to,  would  confent  for  ages 
together,  that  the  whole  fource  of  its  juftice  Ihould  be  pol- 
luted and  corrupt. 

But  to  avoid  all  reference  to  inftances  liable  to  difpute,  let 
us  only  aik  whether  we  have  not,  among  ourlelves,  appoint- 
ments ;  which  if  not  abfolutely  judicial,  are  very  clofely  con- 
nected either  with  judicial  functions,  or  with  others  not  lefs 
repugnant  to  the  admiflion  of  any  thing  corrupt  or  impure ; 
©f  which  the  fale  is  not  only  practifed,  but  publicly  tolerated 


M 


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« 


#        * 


«•  •  ,      III* 

t 

and  authorifed.  In  what  department,  too,  of  the  flate,  arc 
thefe  offices  found?  In  the  Law,  and  in  the  Church.*  hit 
not  notorious,  that  part  of  the  {alary  or  emoluments  of  our 
judges,  the  well-earned,  neceflary,  inadequate  emoluments  of 
our  judges,  arifes  from  the  fale  of  places,  having  duties  belong, 
ing  to  them  connected  witTi  the  bufinefs  of  their  courts  ?  Yet 
does  any  man,  on  this  account,  impeach  the  integrity  or  pu- 
rity  of  our  judges  ;  which  is  on  the  contrary  (and  defervedly) 
the  conftant  subject  of  our  boaft  ?  or  find  ground  for  infinuat- 
ing  that  the  functions  of  thefe  offices  are  not  as  well  performed, 
and  the  perfons  filling  them,  at  refpectable  and  proper  perfons, 
as  they  could  be,  if  they  were  appointed  in  any  other  manner  ? 
The  Church  furnifhes  examples  likewife,  which,  if  not  di. 
rcctly  in  point,  equally   contradict  the  pofition  above  fup. 


*  To  thefe  fhould  have  been  added  the  Army.  It  will  be  cu- 
rious to  hear  a  general  and  unqualified  condemnation  of  the  fale 
of  places  of  trufl  and  confidence,  in  a  country  which  publicly 
authorifes  the  fale  of  all  its  military  commiffions,  and  in  which 
the  practice  is  defended;  objectionable  as  it  is  in  various  re- 
fpects,  and  unknown  to  the  ordinances  of  any  other  fer. 
vice;  upon  the  ground  of  its  being  the  befl  method  for  keep- 
ing down  the  military  influence  of  the  crown. 

Nothing  can  mark  more  ftrongly  in  what  a  loofe,  carelefs, 
and  fummary  way,  upon  what  imperfect  confideration  and 
hal^y  views,  opinions  are  often  formed  and  acted  upon,  even 
m  matters  of  the  highefl  concern.  The  authors  of  the  Bill, 
notwithflanding  the  care  and  thought  they  muft  be  prefumed 
to  have  bellowed  upon  a  raeafure  replete  with  fo  many  ira- 
portant  confequences,  appear  totally  to  have  overlooked  this, 
(rather  prominent)  inllance.  of  the  army.  It  ought  at  leaft 
to  have  been  noticed.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  anfwer  that  the 
two  cafes  are  not  precifely,  and  at  all  points,  the  fame.  What 
two  cafes  are  precifely  the  fame  ?  The  army  is  at  leaff  a  cafe 
in  point,  in  an  argument  which  proceeds  throughout  on  an  as- 
fumption,  that  the  fale  of  a  place  of  trufl  and  confidence  is  in 
genere  a  corrupt  act.  At  any  rate,  the  difference  between 
the  two  cafes  is  not  the  difference  between  all  and  none  ;  he. 
tween  the  mofl  furious  and  unreflricted  reprobation,  an  h^ 
ab fence  of  cvea  a  fufpicion,  that  there  wag  any  thing  amiis. 


1*.  7 


•; 


po(^,  if  laid  down -to  its  full  extent ;  and  in  fuch  a  naannef 
as  not  to  fhelter  itfelf  under  the  diflinction,  not  a  very  cre- 
ditable one,  between  an  actual  and  a  virtual  fale.     For  what 
does  any  man  do,  who  purchafes  or  who  fells  the  advowfon 
of  a  living  ?  or  who  purchafes  or  fells  the  next  prefcntation  ? 
does  not  he,  both  in  effect  and  intentionally,  purchafe  or  fell 
the  nomination  to  an  ofBce  of  the  higheft  trufl   and  confi- 
dence ?  and  if  this  be  morally  wrong,  can  it  cease  to  be  go, 
becaufe  the  act  of  appointment  is  not  to  take  place  imme- 
diately, but  is  in  fome  degree  contingent  and  remote  ?    Caa 
that  which  is  corrupt  and  criminal  if  carried  into  effect  im- 
mediately, become  perfectly  innocent,  becaufe  the  execution  of 
it  is  made  to  depend  on  an  event,  which,   though  certain, 
may  not  happen  for  feveral  monthg  ?     It  is  impoffible,  there- 
fore, to  maintain,  that  the  fale  of  feats  in  parliament  is  cor* 
rupt,  nmply  upon  the  principle,  that  it  is  corrupt  to  take  a 
valuable  confideration  for  a  nomination  to  a  place  of  trufl  and 
confidence.     The  known,  recognifed,   authorifed,   avowed 
practice  of  our  own  country,    in  departments  the  mofl  ex- 
empt from  any   fufpicion  of  impurity,  and  where   the  ad- 
miflion  of  any  thing  incorrect  would  be  mofl  anxioufly  guard- 
ed againfl,  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  fuch  a  pofition. 

We  have  flill  therefore,  to  look  for  the  ground  on  which 
either  the  buyer  or  the  feller,  in  fuch  a  tranfaction  as  that 
above  flated,  is  to  be  reprefented  as  being  a  man  morally 
corrupt.  In  fact  if  their  proceeding  is  corrupt,  it  will  be  dif- 
ficult, or  as  I  fhould  fay,  utterly  impoffible,  to  flop  there, 
and  not  to  go  on  and  declare  corrupt  the  very  influence 
itfelf,  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  carry  into  effect  this  cor- 
rupt bargain.  If  the  buying  and  felling  be  corrupt,  it  can 
only  be  fo  for  reafons,  which  will  make  it  corrupt  to  have 
the  commodity  which  is  capable  of  being  fo  bought  and 
fold.  This  is  the  true  feat  of  the  grievance,  as,  it  mufl  be 
confeffed  to  be,  the  true  place  in  which  to  apply  the  remedy. 
So  long  as  there  are  perfons  in  a  fituation  to  fay,  I  can  make 
aii  offer  of  a  feat  'in  parliament,  fo  long  will  there  be  per- 
fons to  treat  with   them  for  that  object,  and  fo  lon^  will 


\^ 


til 


i 

( 


*  1 


Vf 


4 

•  p 


•At         m  W 


■       •.       • 


•  1 


s^  •  '•    •  •        .  -•    ■         ,, 

g    -  .t,„  •      ■,,„  ^ 

ma^ns  be  found,    for  commuting  in  fome  way  or  other,  the 
influence  fo  pofle fled,  .for  confideratlbns  valuable  to  the  pof- 
feflbr.     The  only  effectual  Way  wiM  be  to  get  rid  of  the  in- 
fluence altogether.     To  make  it  penal  for  any  one  to  have 
fuch  goods  in  his  pofleflion.     This  the  hon.  mover  may  be 
aflured  is  the  ufe  that  will  be  made  of  his  meafure  (nay  it  is 
the  juftand  legitimate  ufe)  by  thofe/ whodo  not  fcruplenow 
to  oppofe  it,  becaufe  they   like  to  argue  the   queftion  both 
ways,  to  be  ready  for  either  event  ;    and  may  think  poflibly, 
that  more  is  to  be  gained   by  procuring  the  rejection  of  it, 
and  by  the  ground  thereby  laid   for  raifing  a  clamour  againft 
parliament,  than  they  can   hope  for  from  the  argument  and 
the  authority  which  it  will  furnifh,  towards  fubverting  the 
greater  part  of  the  influence,  which  property  is  now  allowed 
to  retain. 

I   know  how     prompt   the  anfwer    to  this  will  be,  and 
how  triumphantly  I  fliall  be  told,  that  no  two  things  can  be 
more  remote  from  each  other,   than   the  influence  of  pro- 
perty,     the     juft,     wholefome,     legitimate     influence     of 
property,  and  the   fale  of  feats. —But  let  us  recollect  that 
in  the  prefent   bufmefs,  we  are  arguing  throughout  upon 
principle,  and   that  it  is  of  the  nature  o^ principle,  to  unite 
things  the  moft    various  and  oppofite    in    their    individual 
forms   and   circumftances.     It    is   not  a   queftion,    how  far 
things  may  be  diftinguiftied  ;  but  how  far  thofe,  which  are  na- 
turally   diftinguiflicd,   may    be    afllmilated   and  made   one. 
Thofe   who   can   make  no   diflinction   between   an   offence 
againft   the  bribery  laws,  by  giving  money  to  a  particular 
voter,  and  the  fale  of  a  feat,  can  hardly  be  expected  todiftin- 
guifh  between  the  fale  of  a  feat,  and  fuch  a  ufe  of  influence  as 
will  give  them  the  feat  to  fell. 

I  am  as  well  aware  as  another  that  there  is  much  influence 
which,  though  ultimately  to  be  traced  to  property,  is  so  re- 
mote  from  its  primary  fource,  has  been  fo  changed  in  the  gra- 
dations which  it  has  pafled  through,  has  been  fo  improved  by 
fucceflive  graftings,  as  to  reuin  little  or  nothing  of  its  origi- 


i' 


na!  character, — of  the  harftinefs  and  acerbity  of  the  parent 
ftock.  The  case  is  the  fame  as  with  that  paflTion  in  our  na- 
ture, which  though  too  grofs  to  be  named,  is  often  the  fource 
of  every  thing  moft  delicate  and  fentimental ;  which,  as  the 
poet  dcfcribes, 

through  some  certain  strainers  well  refin*d 


Is  gentle  love,  and  charms  all  woman-kind. 

All,  in  thefe  inftances,  that  property  may  have  done,  is  to 
have  given  to  virtue  the  means  of  acting,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity of  difplaying  itfelf ;  to  have  furniftied  the  inftru- 
ment  without  which  its  energies  muft  have  been  ufe- 
lefs,  and  to  have  erected  the  ftage  without  which  it  would 
have  remained  unknown.  I  am  under  no  apprehen- 
fions  for  the  fate  of  influence  of  this  fort.  My  hon. 
friend  and  others,  notwithftanding  the  operation  of  this  bill, 
will  be  at  full  liberty,  I  truft,  to  lay  out  their  thoufands  in  acts 
of  beneficence  and  bounty,  in  building  bridges,  or  endowing 
hofpitals,  in  relieving  the  wants  or  advancing  the  fortunes  of 
the  indigent  and  meritorious.  They  may  ftill  enjoy,  toge- 
ther with  all  the  heart-felt  fatisfaction,  all  the  influenoe 
which  will  naturally  arife  from  property  fo  employed  ; 

Him  portion'd  maids,  apprentic'd  orphans  blest, 
The  young  who  labour,  and  the  old  who  rest. 

But  is  this  the  only  way  in  which  property  exerts  its 
powers  ?  Is  it  always  taken  in  this  finer  form  of  the  extract 
oreflence  ?  is  it  never  exhibited  in  the  fubftance  ?  It  is  here 
that  the  comparifon  will  begin,  and  that  the  queftion  will  be 
aflced  ;  which  the  advocates  of  this  bill^  who  do  not  mean  it 
to  extend  to  the  abolition  of  the  influence  of  property,  will 
do  well  to  be  prepared  to  anfwer  ;  How,  if  the  fale  of  a  feat 
or  any  commutation  of  fervices  connected  with  fuch  an  object 
be  grofs  corruption,  can  we  tolerate  the  influence  which  pro- 
perty gives,  in  biafling  the  minds  of  thofe  who  are  to  give 
their  votei  ?  How  a  landlord,  for  inftance,  fliould  have  any 
nore  influence  over  his  own  tenants,  than  over  thofe  of  ano- 


i.i 


lAtf"*". 


/  r 


10 

ther  man  ?  How  a  large  manufacturer  ftiould  be  able  to  bring 
to  the  poll  more  of  his  own  workmen,  than  of  thofe  employed 
in  the  fervice  of  his  neighbour  ?  How  an  opulent  man  of  any 
defcription  fpending  his  fortune  in  a  borough  town,  (hould 
be  able  to  talk  of  his  influence  among  the  fmaller  tradefmen : 
or  be  at  liberty  to  hint  to  his  baker  or  his  butcher,  that,  laying 
out  every  week  fuch  a  fum  with  them,  as  he  does,  he  expects 
that  they  fliould  oblige  him  by  giving  a  vote  to  his  friend,  Mr. 
Such-a-One,  at  the  next  election?  If  all  this  is  not  corrupt, 
upon  the  principles  on  which  we  are  now  arguing,  I  know  not 
what  is.  What  has  money  fpent  with  tradefmen,  or  work  given 
to  manufacturers,  or  farms  let  to  tenants,  to  do  with  the  inde- 
pendent exercife  of  their  right,  and  the  confcientious  dif- 
charge  of  their  duty,  in  the  election  of  a  member  to  fcrve 
them  in  paxliament  ?  A  fine  idea  truly,  that  their  decifion  in 
the  choice  of  a  reprefentative  is  to  be  influenced  by  the  con- 
fideration  of  what  is  beft  for  their  feparate  and  private  inter 
«ft !  or  that  perfons,  the  advocates  of  purity,  and  who  will 
hear  of  nothing  but  flrict  principle,  fliould  attempt  to  diflin- 
guifh  between  the  influence  which  engages  a  man's  vote  by 
the  offer  of  a  fum  of  money,  and  that  which  forbids  the  re- 
fufal  of  it,  under  the   penalty  of  lofs  of  cuftom  or  lofs  of 
work,  or  of  the  pofleflion  of  that  on  which  his  wife  and  fa- 
mily muft  depend  for  their  bread  ?  I  fliall  be  curious  to  hear 
in  what  manner,  not  the  advocates  of  this  bill,  but  the  advo- 
cates for  the  principles  on  wljich  this  bill  is  enforced,  will  de- 
fend  therafelves  againft  thefe  queftions ;  and  be  able  to  fliow, 
that  while   it  is  grofs  corruption,  grofs  moral  depravity,  in 
any  one  who  poflefles  fuch  influence,  to  connect  his  own  in- 
tereft  with  the  ufeof  it,  even  though  he  fliould  not  ufe  it  im- 
properly, it  is  perfectly  innocent  to  create  thai  influence  by 
the  means  juft  defcribed  ?    Or  on  the  other  hand,  if  fuch 
means  are  not   lawful,  how  the  influence  of  property  is  to 
continue,  fuch  as  it  has  at  all  times  fubfifted  in  practice,  and 
been  at  all  times  confidered  as  lawfully  fubfifling  ?  It  is  indif- 
ferent to  me  which  fide  of  the  alternative  they  take ;  but  let 
them  be  well  aware  that  fuchis  the  alternativeto  which  they  will 
be  reduced ;  and  that  if  they  contend  generally,  as  is  now  done, 


I 


il' 


i 


11 

that  fuch  and  fuch  things  are  corrupt,  becaufe  they  admit  the 
confideration  of  intereft  in  matters  which  ought  to  beexclu- 
fively  decided  on  principles  of  duty,  it  is  in  vain  for  them 
hereafter  to  contend  that  any  man  has  a  right  to  influence  his 
tenants,  or  tradefmen,  or  workmen,  by  any  other  mean?  at 
leaft  than  those  by  which  he  may  equally  influence  the  te- 
nants,  tradefmen,  or  workmen  of  any  other  perfon  ;  that  it 
to  fay,  by  his  talents  j)r  by  his  virtues,  by  the  fervices  which 
he  may  have  done,  and  the  gratitude  he  may  have  ii\spired. 

When  I  look  therefore  to  the  moral  qualities  of  thefe  acts, 
as  independent  of  and  antecedent  to  pofitive  law,  I  am  at  a  lofs 
to  find  what  it  is,  either  on  the  fcore  of  principle  or  of  autho- 
rity, that  determines  them  to  be  corrupt,  or  that  enables  us, 
if  they  are  corrupt,  to  exempt  from  the  fame  fentence  of  cor- 
ruption nine  tenths  of  the  influence,  which  has  hitherto 
been  fuppofed  to  be  attached,  and  legitimately  attached,  to 
property,  and  which,  for  aught  that  at  prefent  appes^rs,  tl^ere 
is  no  intention  of  taking  away. 

But  though  fuch  may  be  the  refult  of  an  inquiry  into  the 
moral  conftitution  of  thefe  acts,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that 
the  law  may  render  corrupt  any  act  which  it  pleafes,  that  is 
to  fay,  the  law  may  make  any  act  which  it  pleafes  illegal ;  and 
to  do,  or  procure  to  be  done,  an  illegal  act,  from  an  interefted 
motive,  is,  I  apprehend,  corruption. 

We  are  to  inquire  therefore,  in  what  mapner  and  to  what 
degree,  thofe  acts,  which  generally  speaking  are  not  corrupt, 
have  been  rendered  fo  by  pofitive  law.  And  firft,  without 
affirming  or  denying  the  fact,  let  us  examine  the  conclufive- 
nefs  and  validity  of  the  arguments,  by  which  it  has  hithertq 
been  attempted  to  be  proved.  It  has  been  said  by  thofe  from 
whom  I  fliould  have  expected  better  reafoning,  that  the  cor- 
ruption follows  of  neceflTity  from  the  laws  refpecting  bribery 
in  the  cafe  of  individual  voters  ;  for  that  it  is  impoffible  that 
the  law  fliould  be  guilty  of  fuch  monftrous  inconfiftency,  as 
well  as  of  fuch  flagrant  injuftice,  as  to  puniih  the  poor  for  bri- 


Vf 


1^  .*    J 

bery  in  retail,  while  they  fuflfer  it  to  be  practifed  with  impu- 
nity by  the  rich  in  wholefale. 

There  is  foiiiething  fo  wildly  inconclufive  in  this  argument 

as  to  make  it  difficult  to  fet  about  formally  to  confute  it.     I 

cannot  better  illuflrate  its  fallacy  than  by  an  argument  fome- 

thing  of  the  fame  fort,  quite  as  good  in  refpect  to  conclufive- 

nefs,  and  much  better  in  refpect  to  point  and  archnefs,  which 

1  remember  to  have  heard,  as  a  boy,  at  a  contefted  election 

for  the  county  of  Norfolk;   where  one  of  the  candidates,  a 

mod  refpectable  man.  had  rendered  himfelf  obnoxious  by  the 

inclofureofa  common,   (a  proceeding  lefs  familiar  at  that 

time,  and  better  calculated  therefore  for  a  fubjcct  of  popular 

clamour) ;  upon  which  the  wit  of  the  day  was  to  afk,  in  way 

of  dialogue,  what  that  man  dcferved  who  (hould  fteal  a  goofe 

from  a  common  ?  and  when  the  anfwer  was  given,  to  follow 

up  the  queilion  by  another,   what  then  fhall  be  done  to  him 

who  fleals  the  common  from  the  goofe?    This  was  very  good 

election  wit,  but  certainly  very  bad  argument  ;   (though  juft 

as  good  as  that  to  which  I  have  been  adverting,)  for  what  is 

the  affinity  between  the  two  offences,  fo  as  to  juftify  the  con- 

fidering  the  one,   as  differing  from  the  other  only  by  being 

upon  a  larger  fcale  ?  A  man  by  prociiring  the  inclofure  of  a 

common,  where  fuch   inclofure  ought  not  to  take  place,  may 

do  a  much  worse  moral  act,  with   lefs  temptation  probably, 

and  with  far  more  injury  to  others' interefts,  than  by  the  theft 

of  many  geefe  :  yet  who  would  ever  dream  of  describing  thefe 

as  kindred  acts,  or  propofe  that  the   inclofer  of  commons,  if 

convicted  of  having  inclofed  when  he  ought  not,  fhould  be 

punifhed  by   imprifonment  and  whipping  ?  Other  inftances 

may  be  cited  more   directly  in  point.     There  are,  or  have 

been.    I    believe,    laws   to  reftrain   the  retail  fale  of  fpirits. 

Should  we  think  that   a  man  argued  very  wifely  or  conclu- 

fively,  with  much  fairnefs  of  representation  or  much  know- 

ledge  of  the  principles  of  legiflation,  who  fhould  harangue  at 

the  door  of  an  alehoufe  (the  only  place  however  fit  for  fuch 

a  difcourfe)  againft  the  juflice  of  laws,  which  could  punifh  a 

publican  for  selling  a  dram  to  a  poor  wretch,  who  wanted  it 


p. 


•    *  13 

perhaps  to  folace  him  under  the  eflfccts  of  cold  and  hunger, 
to  whom  it  mufl  ftand  in  the  place  of  food  and  raiment ; 
while  the  fame  law  did  not  fcruple  to  permit  the  sale  of  thefe 
fpirits  by  wholefale  on  the  part  of  the  rich  merchant  or  flill 
more  opulent  planter  ?  and  (hould  take  occafion  from  thence 
to  afk  (exactly  in  the  flile  of  my  hon.  friend)  if  fuch  was  the 
punifhment  for  felling  a  dram  or  gill,  what  did  they  deferve 
who  fold  thefe  fpirits  by  whole  puncheons  and  fhip-loads  ? 
The  anfwer  is,  that  thefe  acts  do  not  ftand  to  each  other  in  the 
relation  of  more  or  lefs,  but  are  perfectly  difparate  and  diffi- 
milar  ;  are  productive  of  different  confequences  ;  arc  to  be 
regulated  by  different  provifions  ;  are  fo  widely  separated  in 
character,  as  that  the  one  may  be  an  object  of  national  en- 
couragement, a  fource  of  public  wealth  and  benefit,  while  the 
other  can  produce  nothing  but  mifchief,  and  is  a  practice  re- 
quiring to  be  reftrained  by  penal  ftatute.      Nothing  therefore 
can  be  more  falfe  than  the  inference  by  which  it  is  concluded 
that  the  fale  of  a  feat,  in  cafes  where  it  can  be  effected,  mufl  be 
deemed  corrupt,   becaufe  there  are  laws  which  prohibit  the 
gift  of  money  to  individual  voters.   Both  may  be  corrupt,  and 
both  may  require  to  be  prohibited  :  but  not  the  one  on  ac- 
count of  the  other. 

Suppofing  however  the  fact  to  be,  that  by  fair  conftruction 
of  the  law  of  parliament,  fuch   bargains  as   are  here  in  ques- 
tion, muft  be  conlidered  as  illegal,  and  may  in  confequence 
be  denominated  corrupt :  it  is  fo  far  from  following  that  the 
prefent  bill  is  therefore  neceffary,  that  the  prefumption  would 
rather  lie  the  other  way,  and  the  conclufion  be  that  a  new  bill 
was  not  wanted  ;  inafmuch  as  it   could  only  prohibit  that 
which  was  already  prohibited.     In  general,  the  precedent  of 
any  law  tells  as  much  for  what  it  does  not,  as  for  what  it  does. 
If  we  have  the  authority  of  our  anceftors  for  doing  fo  much, 
we  have  their  authority  alfo  for  doing  no  more.     If  they  tell 
us,  that  fuch  things  ought  to  be  prevented,  they  tell  us  like- 
wise, fo  far  as  their  practice  is  our  guide,  that  the  attempts 
at  prevention  ought  not  to  be  pufhed  beyond  a  certain  extent. 
It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  laws,  right  in  their  object,  may 


•if     I 


■^Nf./ 


be  deficient  in  their  mean^,  or  that  change-of  times  anxl  cir- 
cumflances  may  re<jiiire  new  penalties  and'  provifions  to  ef- 
fect that  to  which  the  old  were  formerly  adequate.  But  then 
this  change  and  this  ncceflity  fliould  be  fliown  ;  and  after  all 
itisnojufl  concluGon,  that  bccaufe  our  anceftors  wifhed  to 
prevent  certain  things  by  certain  means,  they  would  there- 
fore be  willing  to  accomplifli  their  object  at  any  price,  or 
liave  recourfe  to  any  means,  be  they  what  they  would,  which 
the  attainment  of  that  object  might  require  at  a  fubfecjuent 
period. 


iV 


Our  bufinefs  therefore  ii  to  afcertain,  what  it  is  right  for 
us  to  do,  with  refpect  to  an  object,  on  which  neither  morals, 
nor  law  as  antecedently  eftabliflied,  prefcribe  to  us  any  cer- 
tain mode  of  action,  nor  even  impofe  upon  us  the  neceflity 
of  acting  at  all. — ^The  acts  in  queftion  are  not  in  themfelves 
corrupt  or  immoral.  The  law  has  either  prefcribed  nothing 
about  them,  or,  having  prefcribed  what  it  has  thought  fit, 
has  left,  to  fay  the  leaft,  the  neceflity  of  any  further  provi- 
fions,  to  the  judgment  of  the  legiflature  of  the  time. — It  may 
be,  that  what  it  is  propofcd  to  fupprefs  is  a  political  evil,  tend- 
ing  to  render  parliament  a  lefs  fit  inftrument  for  promoting 
the  general  welfare.  If  it  is  so,  let  us,  in  God's  name,  fet 
about  in  earneft  to  devife  the  means  of  fupprefling  it :  taking 
care  always  as  in  other  inftances,  that  in  eradicating  what  is 
bad,  we  do  not  injure  what  is  good,  that  in  removing  one 
evil  we  do  not  introduce  others  of  far  greater  amount.  But 
with  thii  view,  let  us  be  fure,  that  in  attempting  change, 
with  all  the  dangers  to  which  change  is  liable  ;  particularly 
in  a  machine  fo  delicate,  fo  complicated,  the  movements  of 
which  can  be  fo  little  defined,  and  are  fo  imperfectly  under- 
ftood,  as  thofe  of  the  Britifh  conftitution ;  we  are  not  pro- 
cceding  upon  afl'umptions,  which  we  ourfelves  at  the  mo- 
ment fufpect  to  be  falfe,  and  which  we  adopt  rather  in  com- 
pliance with  the  clamour  of  perfons  out  of  doors,  than  in 
conformity  to  our  own  fober,  deliberate,  and  unbiafled 
judgment. 


— -t - 


-•    "^'af*  .- 


u 

It  is  in  fact  in  deference  to  the  former  of  thefe  motives, 
that  is  to  fay,  to  the  voice  of  what  is  called  The  Public,  thtft 
the  adoption  of  the  meafure  now  propofed  is  principally 
urged.  And  this  being  the  cafe,  it  is  in  a  more  efpecial 
manner  incumbent  upon  us,  to  confider  what  is  the  nature  oif 
this  call,  by  what  caufes  it  has  been  excited,  with  what  cir- 
cumftances  it  is  combined,  and  from  what  clafles  and  defcrlp- 
tions  of  perfons  it  chiefly  proceeds.  It  would  be  the  height 
of  weaknefs  and  folly  in  any  case  to  adopt  a  great  political 
meafure  without  confidering  fomething  more  than  the  mere 
meafure  itfelf,  without  looking  to  the  right  and  to  the  left, 
and  inquiring  what  confequences  it  was  likely,  or  liable  to 
produce  beyond  thofe  immediately  in  view. 

We  have  been  told  that  this  meafure  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  great  queftion  of  Parliamentary  Reform.  If  this  be 
-80,  we  have  all  been  under  a  ftrangemifconception,  for,  with 
one  exception  only,  not  a  gentleman  has  fpoken  upon  the 
meafure,  on  either  fide  or  in  any  ftage  of  its  progrefs,  who 
has  treated  the  fubject  upon  any  other  footing.  It  would  in 
fact  be  perfect  childiftinefs  to  confider  this  meafure,  otherwife 
than  as  arifing  out  of  the  temper  and  fafliion  of  the  times, 
and  as  part  of  that  wild  rage,  which  has  fuddenly  feized  us  ; 
nobody  knows  why  or  w^herefore  ;  for  pulling  to  pieces  the 
government  and  the  conftitution.  It  is  one  of  the  introductory 
ftepi,  which,  it  is  hoped,  may  lead  us  in  time  to  conclufions 
of  greater  importance  :  one  of  the  early  fymptoms,  the  little 
eruptive  puftule  which  fliews,  that  we  have  received  the  in- 
fection, that  the  difeafe  has  got  hold  of  us.  The  difeafe  itfelf 
is  however  denied  ;  and  we  are  required  to  believe,  that  the 
whole  of  the  prefent  cry  originates  in  nothing,  but  in  the  abufcs 
recently  difcovered  in  the  bufinefs  of  the  Duke  of  York. 

Let  this  opinion  be  examined.  The  amount  of  what  the 
Inquiry  into  the  Conduct  of  the  Duke  of  York  has  difcovered, 
is,  that  the  miftrefs  of  a  man  in  power  had  received  money 
for  the  ufc  of  the  influence,  which  ftie  had,  or  pretended  to 
have,  in  procuring  places  and  appointments.    This,  if  it  flood 


\ 


1 


( 


If 


f  'J'^ 


i^itiA^ 


i'  (At  ry 


,1/1. 

:,    'I 

I 


J6 

ilone,  would  be  an  odd  ground  for  bringing  a  general  charge 
of  corruption  againft  the  government,  or  even  for  arraigning 
the  perfon  hirafelf :  for  who  is  there  in  office  that  is  not  fur- 
rounded  by  connexions,  JHIHBHIMII  by  whom  fuch  a 
pretence  of  influence  might  at  any  time  be  fet  up,  and  by 
whom  in  many  cafes,  it  might  be  maintained,  with  a  degree  of 
plaufibility  far  more  than  fufficient  for  impofing  upon  perfons 
who  by  their  eagernefs  and  their  ignorance  have  {hewn  them- 
felves,  as  we  have  feen,  fo  well  prepared  to  be  impofed  upon  ? 
As  for  participation  or  connivance,  though  there  are  perfons 
who  accufe  the  Duke  of  both  of  thefe,  their  numbers  are  few^ 
(fpeaking  always  of  thofe  whofe  qualifications  for  judging  are 
fuch  as  to  make  their  judgment  of  any  value,)  and  even  of 
thofe  few,  fewer  ftill  think  that  their  fufpicions,  whether 
true  or  falfe,  admit  of  any  fufficient  proof.  The  whole  of 
the  proof,  with  the  exception  of  a  fingle  doubtful  pafTage 
from  Mifs  Taylor,  refled  on  the  authority  of  fuch  a  witnefs  as 
Mrs.  Clarke,  fpeaking,  too,  to  facts  which  pafTed  only  be- 
tween her  and  the  party  accufcd.* 


*  Since  the  above  remarks  were  made,  some  curious  cir- 
cumftances  have  occurred,  materially  affecting  the  complex- 
ion of  the  caufe  as  it  appeared  originally  before  the  Houfe  of 
Commons. 

Col.  Wardle  has  found  out  that  his  principal  witnefs,  the 
witnefs  on  whofe  tcflimony  the  Charge,  as  applicable  to 
the  Duke  of  York,  almofl  exclufively  refled,  was  a  perfon 
not  fit  to  be  believed  upon  her  oath. 

It  is  thought  perfectly  right  and  fitting,  that  Mrs.  Clarke's 
unfworn,  and  unfupported  teflimony,  on  aqueflion  of  private 
converfation,  in  which  fhe  and  the  party  accufed  were  the 
only  perfons  prefent,  was  to  be  good  againft  the  Duke  of 
York  ;  while  her  fworn,  fupported,  and,  till  the  laft  trial,  un- 
contradicted teflimony,  in  matteis  not  paffing  in  fecret,  and 
in  fupport  of  facts  having  nothing  in  them  incredible  or 
even  difficult  of  belief,  was  not  to  be  good  againft  Col. 
Wardle. 

This  is  popular  juftice  ! 

Confidering  what  was  the   point  really  at  iffue  in  the  late 
trial,  it  is  difficult  to  fay,  which  of  the  two  decifions,  the  one 


>v 


^  % 


•*^  H  **  ?♦* 


17 


Yet  wftlftiiih'i$,  lUch  is  the'furprize  excited  in  this  coun- 
try  by  a  fufpicion,  even,  of  corruption  in  perfons  of  high  rank 
and  ftation,  and  fuch  the  commotion  which  any  fufpicion  to 
that  effect  never  fails  to  create,  that  the  Duke  of  York,  a 
member  of  the  royal  family,  the  king's  own  fon,  in  full  pof- 
feffion  of  his  father's  favour,  and  of  the  refpect  and  good  will 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  nation,  is  fain  to  quit  the  fituation  of 
Commander  in  Chief,  which  he  has  held  with  credit  for  four- 
teen years  and  more,  and  to  withdraw  into  retirement,  fooner 
than  run  the  rifle  of  the  fteps,  which  parliament,  it  was  feared, 
would  otherwife  be  induced  to  take. 


for^  as  it  is  called,  or  the  one  againji ;  was  that  which 
Colonel  Wardle  ought  moft  to  have  deprecated.  If  the 
credit  of  his  witnefs  was  eftabliOied,  he  flood  convict- 
ed of  having  made  pecuniary  engagements,  for  the  pur- 
pose too,  as  it  muft  appear,  of  fuborning  evidence  ;  and  of  re- 
fufmg  afterwards  to  make  them  good.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
his  witnefs  was  difbelieved  ;  in  which  cafe  fhe  could  be  confi- 
dered  only  as  a  woman  deliberately  perjured;  what  atone- 
ment or  apology  could  he  make,  to  the  feveral  parties  and 
interefts,  which  had  fuffered  or  been  endangered  by  his  pro- 
ceeding! (to  the  Duke  of  York,  the  immediate  object  of  the 
attack  ;  to  the  King,  whofe  beft  feelings  had  been  tortured  ; 
to  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  whofe  confidence  had  been  abufed, 
whofe  time  had  been  mif-spent,  and  whofe  character  had  been 
committed;  to  the  general  caufe  of  injured  juftice  ;)  for  hav- 
ing brought  forward  a  caufe,  which,  in  the  fole  material  point, 
namely,  the  application  of  the  charge  to  the  perfon  accufed, 
was  to  reft,  principally  if  not  exclufively,  on  the  teftimony  of 
fuch  a  witnefs  ?  And  it  muft  not  be  fuppofed,  that  the  dilem- 
ma, to  which  Col.  Wardle  is  thus  reduced,  is  one  that  can  be 
retorted  upon  thofe  who  urge  it,  or  be  made  to  tell  in  favour 
of  him  as  well  as  againft  him.  Though  the  conclufion  be  in- 
evitable, that  if  Mrs.  Clarke  was  forfworn  on  the  Trial,  fhe 
V  5  not  a  credible  witnefs  in  the  Examination  before  the 
J  i  life  of  Commons,  it  does  not  follow  e  contra^  that  the  be- 
iiet  of  her  teftimony  in  Court,  where  ffie  was  examined  upon 
oith,  and  was  fpeaking  to  matters  that  paffed  in  the  prefence 
of  others,  implies  the  neceffity  of  believing  her,  when  flie  was 
not  upon  oath,  and  was  delivering  a  teftimony,  which,  whe- 
ther true  or  falfe,  left  her  equally  free  from  the  poflibilitf 
of  detection.  D 


I"' 


s 


\ 


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f, 


"•'    !','.■* 


K* 


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U 


I 


%' 


18 


Can  any  man  believe  thal^itwas  an  infian?e'*like  this 
which  has  infpired  the  country  with  i  'drftruft  of  its  govern- 
ment, and  excited  a  defire  of  new  modelling  its  parliament 
as  being  too  fubmiffive  to  the  wiflies  of  the  court  ?  Wemuft 
look  to  other  motives  and  purpofes  ;  to  ^Jrhich  the  prefent 
bill  is  meant  to  ferve  as  an  inftrument,  and  for  which 
the  bufinefs  of  the  Duke  of  York  is  made  to  ferve  as  a  pre- 
text, being  after  all,  it  muft  -be  confefled,  a  very  flimfy  and 
forry  one. 

Upon  what  principle  is  it  that  we  are    told,  that   it  is  to 
libel  the  people  of  England,  to  fay  that  there  are  among  them 
thoufands  and  thoufands,  who  wiOi  the  deftruction  of  the  pre- 
fent order  of  things,  and  who  are  labouring  night  and  day  to 
carry  into  effect  that  laudable  purpofe   ?  And  with  what  de- 
cency, it  may  be  added,  is  this  libel  complained  of  by  thofe, 
who  are  every  day  libelling  this  houfe,  and  all  the  higher  or- 
ders  of  the  ftate,  in  the  groffeft  and  moft  unmeafured  terms  ? 
Why  is  it  more  a  libel  than  to  fay,  that  there  are  among  the 
people    of  England  robbers,   murderers,  and  houfebreakers, 
and  offenders  of  all  defcriptions,  and  who,  numerous 'as  they 
are,  would  foon  fliow  themfelves  in  tenfold  greater  numbers, 
if  the  fear  of  the  law  did  not  keep  them  down  ?  Are  there 
not  as  powerful  motives,  pafTions  as  fierce  and  flrong,  and  in- 
terefts  as  tempting  and  urgent,  to  arm  men  for  the  overthrow 
of  all  government,   as  there  are  to  incite  them  to  depredations 
on  private  property,  or  any  other  act  of  violence  ?  There  is  no 
government,  bad  or  good,  that   can  boaft  of  owing  its  {la- 
bility (or  quiet  at  leafl)  to  any  other  caufe,  than  to  the  diffi- 
culty and  danger  which   is  oppofed   to  every  attempt  to  fub- 
vcrt  it.     Let  but  the  project  be  eafy,  let  but  hopes  be  enter- 
tained of  its  fuccefs,  and  thoufands  will  be  found,  who  from 
motives  of  different  forts, — fome  from  folly,  and  fome  from 
wickednefs ;    fome  becaufe  they  know   not   what  they   are 
about,  fome  becaufe  they  do  know ;    fome  as  knaves  and  more 
as  dupes  ;  many  from    motives  of   intereft,  and    more  from 
motives  of  paffion  ;  fome  becaufe  they  hate  one  part  of  the 
eftablifhment,  and  others  becaufe  they  hate  another ;    fome 


If 

i 

! 

l-t 


.«    • 


♦  *. 


19 


a$  mere  fanatics,  and  becaufe  they  have  entangled  their  under- 
ftandings  (commonfy  of  the  moft  inferior  cafl)  in  fpeculationi 
to  which  they  are  wholly  unequal ;  others  from  mere  reft- 
leffnefs  and  love  of  fomething  to  do  ;  but  far  the  greater  part, 
from  fome  fpecies  of  bad  paffion  or  other,  (not  excluding  of 
courfe  thofe  moft„powerful  and  general  ones,  vanity  and 
love  of  diftinction,)  aredefirous  of  feeing  fome  great  change  in 
the  order  of  things  as  they  find  it  eftablifhed  :  not  all  of  them 
by  any  means  defiring  a  change  of  the  fame  fort  or  to  the 
fame  extent ;  Oh,  no  !  but  all  of  them  a  change  fuited  to 
their  feveral  views,  and  proportioned  to  their  feveral  in- 
terefls  and  fituations. 

My  honourable  friend,  the  author  of  the  mcafure,  and  a 
great  landed  proprietor,  thinks  that  there  would  be  fignal  ad- 
vantage in  a  change  which  would  throw  more  weight  into 
the  fcale  of  the  landed  intereft.  Another  honourable  friend 
of  mine,  likewifea  great  landed  proprietor,  is  of  opinion,  that 
thofe  who  can  only  purchafe  their  feats,  are  intent  upon 
nothing  but  getting  back  their  money.  To  thefe  are  oppofed 
many  gentlemen  of  the  monied  intereft,  who  fee  no  reafon, 
(nor  do  1,  I  confefs,  fee  any)  why  they  who  may  have  paid  a 
fum  for  their  feats  once  for  all,  fhould  be  more  defirous  of  get- 
ting back  their  money,  than  he  who  has  fpent  that  fum,  or 
three  times  as  much,  in  a  contefted  popular  election.  I  am 
far,  too,  from  being  convinced,  from  any  obfervations  that  I 
have  made  of  the  conduct  of  men  in  parliament,  that  fuch,  in 
point  of  fact,  is  the  cafe.  To  my  apprehenfion  many  of  thofe 
who  may  be  fufpected  to  have  come  into  parliament  through 
thefe  condemned  and  reprobated  ways,  have  been  among  the 
moft  upright,  honourable,  and  independent  members,  that 
parliament  has  had  to  boaft,  far  exceeding  others  that  could 
be  named,  who  from  the  money  they  have  fpent,  and  the  in- 
terefts  they  have  ftaked,  in  elections  pretending  to  be  of  higher 
account,  have  only  brought  themfelves  to  be  the  mere  (laves 
of  popular  opinion,  that  is  to  fay,  of  their  own  future  hopes, 
in  the  places  which  they  reprefent.  Many  of  the  former  de- 
fcription,  from  the  clafs  to  which  for  the  moft  part  they  be- 


1 


IN 


* 


i 


'■  ( 


I 


^^1 


1  *.  ■"  i 


*. 


"•"•\. 


•♦ 


'  k: 


,,ip 


/. 


20 


long,  will  be  of  opinion,  probably,  th^t  the  befl  improvement 
would  be  that  which  confpires  bcft  with  the  general  change 
in  the  circumfiances  of  the  country,  and  by  taking  fomething 
from  the  old  andobfolete  privileges  of  the  Janded  arillocracy, 
the  barbarous  remains  of  feudal  times  1  gives  a  free  fcope  to 
men  who  owe  their  wealth,  not  to  dull  hereditary  descent,  but 
to  their  own  enterprize  and  induflry,  and  have  grown  rich  by 
means  that  have  at  the  fame  time  enriched,  or  otherwife  be- 
nefited the  country. 

But  there  is  a  third  and  more  numerous  clafs,  (and  by  no 
means  an  inactive  or  inefficient  one,)  who  looking  with  no 
very  friendly  eye  to  advantages  which  they  do  not  fhare,  and 
knowing  to  a  certainty  that  they  have  neither  land  or  money, 
yet  fully  perfuaded  that  they  have  talents,  will  be  for  levelling 
to  the  ground  all  thofe  barriers,  which  have  hitherto,  as  they 
ire  firmly  convinced,  been  the  foleobftacies  to  their  advance- 
ment, and  have  alone  hindered  thera  from  figuring  in  the  firfl 
fituations  of  the  ilate. 

The  general  rule  will,  I  believe,  be,  that  each  man's  opi- 
nions will  be  found  to  lean  to  that  ftate  of  things,  which  he 
conceives  to  be  the  most  favourable  to  his  own  confequence. 
Political  confequence  is  probably  a  far  more  powerful,  as  it  is 
a  far  more  extenfive  motive,  than  pro fpects  of  private  advan- 
tage. The  numbers  may  be  few,  who  can  hope  to  better 
therafelves  by  any  change,  in  a  pecuniary  view  :  and  thefe 
will  of  courfe  be  found  for  the  mofl  part  among  persons  of 
no  great  authority  from  their  prefent  wealth  or  flation.  But 
many  will  have  in  their  minds ,  (and  the  higheft  in  rank  and 
fortune  notlefs  than  others,)  fome  fcheme  of  things,  in  which 
they  may  hope  to  become  more  confiderable  in  point  of  gene- 
ral confequence.  And  if  fuch  men  fhould  be,  as  they  are  the 
moft  likely  to  be,  men  of  ardent  and  daring  minds,  jealous  df 
their  importance,  eager  for  diftinction,  impatient  of  controul, 
lefs  awed  by  the  fear  of  lofs  than  fanguine  in  their  hopes  ot 
gain,  materials  will  not  be  wanting  for  furnifhing  out  a  revolu« 
tion  even  from  among  the  higher  orders ;  in  oppofition  to  ihat 
childilh  notion,  fo  falfe  even  in  theory,  and  fo  contrary  to  all 


,ip  ^, 

ex'perience,  that  men  will  not  engage  in  fuch  enterprifes  who 
have  much  to  lofe ;  or,  as  it  is  often  cxprefTed,  have  a  greal 
flake  in  the  country. 

Heretofore,  in  fact,  diflurbances  in  the  flate  were  confined 
entirely  to  the  clafs  that  had  much  to  lofe,  namely,  to  perfoni 
in  the  highefl  rank  of  fociety ;  and  though,  fince  the  example 
of  the  French  Revolution,  this  limitation  is  done  away,  and 
the  lottery  of  revolution  thrown  open  even  to  adventurers  of 
the  lowefl  denomination,  yet  the  rich  are  not  excluded,  and 
we  fee  every  day  that  they  are  not  at  all  difpofed  to  exclude 
themfelves.  For  though  the  French  Revolution  exhibits  the 
mofl  ftriking  example  of  failure,  that  the  lovers  of  right  could 
ever  have  wifhed  to  the  authors  of  wrong;  yet  this  failure 
relates  only  to  the  profefsed  objects,  the  peace  and  happinefs 
and  liberty  of  mankind.  In  other  refpects,  and  with  relation 
to  the  views  and  interefls  of  individual  reformers,  who,  in 
truth  and  fact,  trouble  themfelves  but  little  with  the  peace  and 
happinefs  and  liberty  of  mankind,  the  example  is  mofl  encou- 
raging ;  and  particularly  with  refpect  to  thofe,  who  are  not 
likely  to  be  deterred  by  perfonal  rifk  ;  for  nothing  can  fhow  f  j 
flrikingly  the  facility  with  which  the  object  can  be  accom- 
plifhed,  and  with  which  men  from  the  lowefl  flations  may  be 
lifted  fuddenly  to  the  highefl.  This  is  all  that  is  wanted  ;  for 
give  but  the  chance  of  fuccefs,  even  a  very  indifferent  chance, 
and  thoufands  will  not  be  wanting,  high  and  low,  to  engage 
in  the  undertaking,  and  to  labour  with  all  the  refllefs  activity 
and  increafing  induflry  with  which  we  fee  the  work  carrying 
on  at  this  inftant. 

Still  the  means  mufl  be  fupplied.  They  cannot  make 
bricks  without  flraw.  Even  thefe  reformers  or  revolution- 
ifts,  numerous  as  they  are,  and  flrenuous  as  their  exertioni 
are,  cannot  make  a  revolution  of  themfelves,  nor  by  their  ut- 
mofl  efforts  throw  the  country  off  that  happy  bafis,  on  which 
it  has  refled  for  fo  many  centuries,  an  object  of  admiration 
and  envy,  and  never  more  fo  than  at  the  prefent  moment. 
The  great  raafs  of  the  community   is,  no  doubt,   againft 


•i.  1 1 


Hi 


1:    • 


i 
0 


«4* 


ft* 


n 


them  :  but  induftry  and  perfeverance  may  do  much.  Thofe 
who  would  never  liften  to  fuch  a  propofal  in  its  full  extent, 
may  yet  be  drawn  in  by  degrees. 

Formerly,  that  is  to  fay,  tome  five  and  twenty  years  ago, 
the  attempt  was  made  through  the  medium  of  mere  abflract 
reafoning.  Incredible  as  it  may  feem,  the  idea  was  enter- 
tained, as  I  fliould  fay,  of  overturning  the  government,  but  as 
even  the  authors  of  the  attempt  muft  fay,  of  totally  changing 
the  conflitution  of  parliament,  not  by  pointing  out  any  prac- 
tical grievance  under  which  men  laboured,  but  by  convincing 
them  that  the  whole  of  the  Britilh  conflitution,  fuch  as  it  then 
exiaed,  and  fuch  as  it  had  exifted  for  ages,  was  an  infraction 
upon  the  rights  of  man.  The  notion  was  new  of  attempting 
to  make  a  great  change  in  the  practical  concerns  of  mankind, 
by  the  mere  force  of  metaphyfical  reafoning.  But  wild  and 
extravagant  as  fuch  an  attempt  may  be,  and  little,  happily,  as 
was  its  final  fuccefs  at  the  period  alluded  to,  we  muft  not 
fpeak  too  flightingly^of  it,  when  we  recollect  what  fhare  fuch 
notions  had  in  bringing  about  the  French  Revolution,  of  which 
they  oftenfibly  made  the  baOs.  At  the  end  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  centuries,  the  French  monarchy,  at  the  moment  of 
its  greateft  mildnefs,  and  when  all  that  was  harfli  and  odious 
in  it  was  daily  wearing  away,  was  overthrown,  with  all  the 
circumflances  which  we  have  witnefTed,  oftenfibly  by  the 
mere  force  of  metaphyfical  reafoning;  and  what  is  more  hu- 
miliating, if  not  more  furprifing,  by  metaphyfical  reafoning 
of  the  moft  contemptible  fort  I  ■* 

This  mode,  however,  has  now  loft  much  of  its  efficacy,  and 
has  got  to  be  rather  out  of  fafhion.  In  feeking  to  imbody 
the  natural  and  unavoidable  difcontents  of  mankind  for  the 
purpofe  of  overturning  governments,  which  is  the  general 
defcription  of  what  I  ftiould  underfland  by  Jacobinifm,  it  has 
become  neceffary  to  have  recourfe  to  fomeihing  more  folid 
^nd  fubftantial  than  mere  grievances  of  theory,  and  to  take  the 
difcontents  arifing  from  real  caufes,  whether  the  difcontents 
thcmfelves  be  reafonable  or  not,  and  then  to  connect  thcfe  as 


i-S.     1 


#»  • 


23 

effect  and  caufe,  with  fomething  wrong,  or  faid  to  be  wrong, 
cither  in  the* .frame  or  practice  of  the  government.     The 
difcontents  you  are^fure  of;  /hey  can  never  be  wanting,  as 
long  as    men   are    men,   and   that  fociety  is    compofed   of 
various  ranks  and  conditions,  whereof  fome  are  higher  and 
better  than  others.     Since  the  days  of  qui^i  Mecanas,  down 
to  the  prefent  moment,  few  have  ever  been  found,  who  were 
fo  contented  with  their  lot,  whether  chofen  by  themfelves,  or 
caft  upon  them  by  Providence,   ut  ilia  contenti  vivant:  and 
if  they  cannot   be  faid,  laudare  diver/a  fequenUs,   they  at 
leaft  think  that  their  own  fituation  is  not  fo  good  as  it  ought 
to  be,  or  as  a  little  change  would  make  it.     In  a  country  like 
this,  where  a  great  portion  of  our  immenfe  riches  is  paid  in 
contributions  to  the  public  fervice,   no  man  will  ever  think 
himfelf  as  rich  as  he  ought  to  be  :  for  though  the  wealth  of 
the  country  has  increafed  in  full  proportion,  I  believe,  to  its 
burthens,  that  is  to  fay,  to  its  expenfes ;  and  though  there 
never  was  a  time  when  that  wealth  was  more  evenly  difFufed 
through  all  ranks  and  clafTes  of  people,  yet  as  luxury  has  in- 
creafed at  the  fame  time,  not  to  fay  with  equal  rapidity,  every 
man  may  in  fome  fenfe  defcribe  himfelf  as  poor,  inafmuch  as 
the  interval  between  his  income  and  his  expenditure  will,  as 
a  proportionate  part,  be  lefs  than  it  was  before.     Let  his 
wealth  be  what  it  will,  if  his  expences  increafein  fuch  away 
as  to  continue  to  prefs  equally  upon  the  bounds  of  his  income, 
he  will  never  be  a  bit  richer,   with  refpect  to  any  difpofable 
furplus,  but  will  be  equally  under  the  neceffity  of  parting 
with  fome  article  of  pride  or  enjoyment  which  he  wiflies  to 
keep,  whenever  he  is  called  upon  for  any  contribution  to  the 
fervice  of  the  ftate.     It  is  therefore  the  fingular  and  melan- 
choly characteriftic  of  the  ftate  of  poverty  here  defcribed, 
that  it  is  one  which  riches  cannot  cure.     In  common  cafes  if 
a  man  be  poor,  give  him  money  enough,  and  he  is  poor  no 
longer.     But  here  we  may  almoft  fay,  that  the  richer  the  na- 
tion is,  the  poorer  it  is.     It  is  in  vain  that  wealth  is  pouring 
in  upon  us  from  every  quarter,  and  through  an  endlefs  va- 
riety of  channels;   that  it  is  not  confined,  as  national  wealth 
in  truth  never  can  be,  to  particular  perfons  or  clafses,  but  is 


*^ 


'•»'-. 


•  *% 


•  •• 


If; 


f 


i! 
I 


*3 


•" 


24 


difFufed  throughout  with  wonderful  cxactnefs ;  or  rather  in 
larger  meafure,  in  fact,  to  the  lower  and  hiidflling  orders; 
that  foreigners,  reforting  hither,  cannot  behold  without  aston- 
ifhment  a  difplay  of  wealth  and  enjoyment,  unknown  at  any 
former  time,  or  in  any  other  country;  that  we  are  reproached 
every  day  from  the  continent  with  our  opulence  and  profpe- 
rity  as  contrafted  with  the  penury  and  mifery  of  other  coun- 
tries ;  and  are  regarded  with  greedy  eyes  by  the  mafter  of  all 
the  reft  of  Europe,  as  a  mine  of  wealth,  which  he  is  longing 
only  to  get  poffeflion  of ;  all  this  while,  we,  who  know 
thefe  things  better,  are  full  of  complaints  and  lamentations, 
and  reprefenting  ourfelves,  as  an  oppreffed,  burthened,  and 
above  all,  impoverilhcd  nation. 

In  the  midft  of  this,  there  is  nevertheless  one  remedy, 
which,  if  men  could  be  persuaded  to  take  it,  would  do'away, 
as  by  a  charm,  all  this  dreadful  flate  of  poverty,  and  reftore 
them  in  an  inftant  to  a  condition  of  eafe  and  affluence. — It 
feems  like  quackery  to  fuppofe  the  exiftence  of  fuch  a  nos^ 
iruMt  but  it  is  explained  in  two  words — Let  every  man  re- 
folve  to  live  with  no  greater  meafure  of  enjoyments  than  his 
father  did  before  him,  than  people  of  the  fame  rank  and  clafs 
did  forty  years  ago.  I  do  not  aflc  that  they  fliould  lay  out  only 
the  fame  money  :  The  fame  money  would  not  now  procure  the 
fame  enjoyments  :  but  that  they  fhould  only  require  the  fame 
enjoyments.  Let  thofe  who  formerly  walked  on  foot,  be 
content  to  walk  on  foot  now,  and  forego  the  ufe  of  a  horfe, 
when  the  price  too  of  a  horfe  and  the  expence  of  keeping 
one  are  fo  much  greater.  Let  thofe  whofe  means  extended 
no  further  than  to  the  keeping  a  horfe,  be  willing  to  go  back 
to  that  indulgence,  and  difpose  of  their  gigs  and  whifkeys  and 
tandems,  now,  too,  that  every  article  of  that  fort  has  rifen  to 
fuch  an  enormous  amount.  Let  the  former  riders  in  gigs 
and  whiikcys  and  one-horfed  carriages,  continue  to  ride  in 
them,  and  not  afpire  to  be  rolling  about  in  pofl-chaifes  or  ba- 
rouches, or  often  both  in  the  one  and  the  other.  By  this  (ira- 
pie  expedient,  purfued,  mutatis  mutandis,  through  every 
clafs  of  the  community,  one  may  venture  to  fay,  (fpeaking 


•  •  • 


25 


always  of  perfons  whofe  misfortunes  or  imprudences  have 
not  reduced  them  already  to  actual  indigence;  that,  nine 
tenths  of  thofe  who  are  filling  the  country  with  their  cla- 
mours and  wailings  about  the  diflrefles  of  the  times,  all  but 
the  holders  of  fixed  incomes  of  an  early  date,  or  perfons  in 
the  lowefl  clafs  of  labourers,  will  find  themfelves  inftantly  in 
a  flate  of  eafe  and  comfort  fully  able  to  fatisfy  all  the  de- 
mands of  the  (late,  and  to  lay  by  fomething  as  a  future  provi- 
fion  for  their  families. 

But  as  the  expedient,  we  are  fure,  whatever  its  merits  may 
be,  will  never  be  adopted,  there  will  for  ever  remain,  in  the 
feeling  excited  by  the  payment  of  taxes,  an  inexhauflible 
fund  of  difcontent,  of  force  fufficient  to  produce  any  effect 
defired,  provided  means  can  be  found  to  give  it  a  proper  di- 
rection. This  is  the  great  work  on  which  the  artificers  of  re- 
volution are  at  prefent  employed.  They  fay  to  the  people, 
you  are  all  fenfible  of  the  burthens  under  which  you  labour: 
you  all  diflike  the  payment  of  taxes.  Now  what  is  it  that 
carries  the  taxes  to  this  immenfe  amount  ? — A  common  man 
would  fay,  the  immenfe  amount  of  the  civil  and  military  es- 
tablifliments  of  a  great  empire  extending  over  half  the  world; 
the  numbers  of  civil  officers  neceflary  to  carry  on  its  bufinefs 
in  time  of  peace,  and  the  armies  and  navies,  with  all  their  at- 
tendant train  ofexpences,  to  provide  for  its  fecurity  in  cafe 
of  war.  But,  No,  fay  the  band  of  patriots  here  alluded  to^ 
the  objects  here  ftated  are,  to  be  fure,  fuch  as  cannot  be  pro- 
vided for  but  at  a  confiderable  expence.  Wars  cannot  be 
carried  on,  armies  and  navies  cannot  be  maintained^  without 
money.  But  thefe  expenfes  alone  might  well  be  borne: 
what  finks  the  country  is  the  wafteful  expenditure  of  the 
public  money  in  jobs  and  corruption,  in  finecure  places  and 
penfions.  It  is  the  abufes  that  undo  us  ;  the  abiifes  that  we 
mull  correct:  and  as  it  is  parliament  that  fanctions,  if  it  is 
not  itfelf  the  great  feat  of,  the  abufes,  it  is  parliament  that  w# 
mud  corrct  and  reform. 


( 


M 


I 


Jhr*''"jilil°''* '""T • 


■''~^--' ^ 


V' 


fl  i 


I   t    I 

(1 


)    ? 


'll 


I  . 


\h 


i 


!  / 


The  argument  is  perfeftly  regular,  and  the  conclufion  inc. 
vitabJe,  if  you  admit  the  feveral  antecedent  pofitions  on  which 
it  is  made  to  reft.  The  ftatement  contains  in  it  too  all  that  is 
necefTary  to  give  it  effe£l.  A  willing  audience  will  never  be 
wanting  to  ftatemcnts  which  hold  out  a  hope  of  exempting 
men  from  the  neceflity  of  paying.  Once  perfuade  them  that 
all  their  payments  and  burdens  are  the  confequence  of  abufe 
or  mifmanagement  in  fome  part  of  the  government,  and  you 
produce  a  flate  of  feeling  adequate  to  almoft  any  purpofe  for 
which  it  can  be  wanted.  Taxes  and  abufes,  joined,  generate 
a  kind  of  expanlive  force,  that  will  burfl  afunder  even  the 
bed  compared  governments.  The.'abufes,  too,  ferve  to  give  a 
dircftion  to  the  difcontent  and  angry  feeling,  produced  in  the 
firft  inftance  by  the  taxes.  They  ftand  in  the  place  of  the  ab- 
ftraa  rights  of  a  few  years  ago,  and  are  the  lall  improvement 
made  in  the  machine  for  overturning  ftates,  from  which  it  is 
conceived  to  derive  a  much  greater  heft  and  purchafe,  than  in 
its  old  form  of  *  taxeg  and  the  rights  of  man.' 

A  number  of  perfons  are  accordingly  in  a  conftant  flate  of 
aaive  fearch,  prying  among  the  eftablifliments,  and  winding 
about  like  a  wood-pecker  round  a  tree,  in  the  hopes  of  finding 
fome  unfound  part  into  which  they  may  flrike  their  beaks  and 
begin  to  work:  but  not  like  the  honefl  wood- pecker,  who  is 
only  in  fearch  of  the  grubs  and  worms  on  which  he  may  make 
a  meal,  and  is  at  leafl  indifferent  as  to  the  fate  of  the  tree. 
They  on  the  contrary  only  take  the  grubs  and  worms  for  their 
pretext,  and  have  for  their  ultimate  objeft,  to  open  a  hole,  into 
which  the  wet  and  the  rot  may  enter,  and  by  which  the  tree, 
the  Britifh  oak,  (a  beautiful  fhaft  of  I  know  not  how  many 
load,  and  the  growth  of  ages)  may  decay  and  perifh.  Did 
their  labour  really  terminate  in  their  profeflfcd  purpofe,  did 
they  really  mean  only  to  pick  off  the  vermin  that  prey  upon 
the  flate,  the\  nncihtbe  as  ufeful  as  rooks  and  jackdaws  to  a 
flock  of  fheep  :  or  might  fhare  the  higher  honours,  which  are 
paid,  in  countries  infefted  by  locufls,  to  the  bird  that  rids 
them  of  that  deflruaive  infca.     But  to  merit  thefe  honours, 


27 

their  endeavours  mufl  be  direSed  to  far  difFerent  objefts,  be 
carried  on  in  a  different  manner,  and  be  di6hited  by  very 
different  motives. 

Let  us  confider  what  it  is  that  is  comprehended  under  this 
general  head  of  abufes,  which  forms  the  great  inflrument 
whereby  the  difcontents  of  a  country  are  made  fubfervient  to 
the  deflru6lion  of  its  government ;  which  collefts  and  com- 
pounds the  feparate  elements  of  diffatisfaftion,  to  be  found 
floating  in  fociety,  fo  as  to  prepare  them  for  thofe  grand  ex- 
plofions  by  which  flates  are  overthrown. 

By  abufes  is  meant,  I  fuppofe,  either  the  abufe  of  patron- 
age ;  the  granting  to  favour,  or  interefl,  what  ought  to  be 
granted  only  to  merits  and  fervices ;  or  fecondly,  the  pur- 
loining, embezzling  or  corruptly  applying  the  public  money. 
Let  us  endeavour  to  afcertain  how  much  of  either  of  thefe 
fpecies  of  abufe  exifts  :  how  much  of  them  is  to  be  charged  to 
government :  and  how  much,  in  any  event,  is  likely  to  be 
correQed  by  what  is  called  a  Reform  of  Parliament. 

As  to  the  lafl  of  thefe  heads  of  abufe,  the  purloining  or  em- 
bezzling of  the  public  money  ;  by  which  muft  be  underflood 
the  transferring,  by  falfc  accounts  or  otherwife,  into  the 
pocket  of  the  individual,  what  was  intended  for  the  public 
fervice  ;  I  fuppofe  it  is  hardly  neccffary  to  fay,  that  the  idea 
of  fuch  an  offence  as  exifling  among  thofe  who  conflitute  what 
can  with  any  propriety  be  called  the  government,  could  be 
generated  only  in  the  grofs  imaginations  of  perfons  totally 
ignorant  of  the  prmciples  and  motives  by  which  men  in  fuch 
fituations  mufl  of  neceffity  be  aftuated.  It  is  not  a  queftion 
of  their  virtue  or  probity;  but  of  their  feelings,  habits,  man- 
ners, and  prudence.  They  may  be,  as  they  often  are,  mer- 
cenary, felfifh,  rapacious,  unprincipled.  But  it  is  not  in  afcts  ^ 
like  thofe  alluded  to,  that  thefe  difpofitions  will  (how  them- 
felves,  even  in  the  perfons  who  feel  them  mofl.  It  might  as 
well  be  fuppofed,  that  they  could  feek  to  enrich  themfelvei 


\ 


i 

I 


t 


w... 


■    > 


tt 


'li 


by  conveying  away  a  diamond  fnufF-box,  or  pilfering  guineas 
out  of  a  drawer.  Nothing  can  prove  more  clearly  the  degree 
to  which  this  is  tnie,  than  the  commotion  excited,  and  theef- 
fe8s  produced  by  any  appearance  of  irregularity,  even  of  a 
minor  fort,  among  pcrfons  in  higher  ftations,  in  tranfaflions 
connefted  with  the  adminiftration  of  monev. 

With  refpe6l  to  the  abufe  of  patronage,  one  of  thofe  by 
which  the  interells  of  countries  will  in  reality  moft  fufFer,  I 
perfe611y  agree,  that  it  is  Irkewife  one,  of  which  the  govern- 
ment, properly  fo  called,  that  is  to  fay,  perfons  in  the  higheft 
offices,  are  as  likely  to  be  guilty,  and  from  their  opportunities, 
more  likely  to  be  guilty,  than  any  others.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  greedinefs,  the  felfifhnefy,  the  infatiable  voracity,  the  profli- 
gate difregard  of  all  claims'  from  merit  or  fervices,  that  we  often 
see  in  pcrfons  in  high  official  ftations,  when  providing  for  them- 
felves,  their  relations  or  dependants.  I  am  as  little  difpofed 
as  any  one  to  defend  them  in  this  conduft.  Let  it  be  reprt)- 
bated  in  terms  as  harfh  as  any  one  pleafes,  and  much  more 
fo  than  it  commonly  is.  But  the  evil  from  perfons  of  thij 
defcription  is  ncceflarily  limited,  not  poffibly  by  their  own 
moderation,  but  by  the  extent  to  which  their  defires  are  capa- 
ble  of  being  carried.  They  can  eat  no  more  than  their 
ftomachs  can  contain.  The  lift  is  fmall  of  thofe  immediatelv 
conne8ed  with  them,  nor  is  the  number  unlimited  of  thofe 
whom  they  may  wifti  to  ferve  from  motives  of  vanity  or  in- 
tereft.    When  the  leech  is  full,  it  will  drop  off  of  itfelf. 

But  what  (hall  fet  bounds  to  thofe  llreams  of  abufe  that 
take  their  rife  among  the  people  themfelves  ?  Let  us  trace  the 
genealogy  ;  the  birth,  parentage,  and  education,  of  nine  tenths 
of  the  jobs  that  are  done  in  the  army  and  navy,  or  in  the  other 
departments  of  the  ftate,  and  fee  from  what  they  originate, 
and  m  what  manner  they  are  brought  forward.  A  -Liuk man, 
»t  the  eve  of  a  general  eleftion,  or  on  fome  vacancy  in  a  bo- 
rough or  county,  is  addreftedby  fome  one  who  is,  or,  who,  he^ 
hopes,  will  be  his  conftitucnt,  fome  full-grown  raanufa61urer. 


29 

• 

or  opulent  brewer,  or  eminent  attorney,  who  fays,"  You  know 
my  fon  Tom,  who  is  in  the  navy.  He  has  been  for  fome  time 
'a  lieutenant,  I  ftiould  be  very  glad,  if  you  would  get  him  made 
Mafter  and  Commander."  The  candidate  or  member  bows 
aflcnt,  (Mr.  Such-a-one  is  not  a  man  tobe  difobliged)he  fpeaks 
to  his  friend  the  minifter ;  theminifter  fpeaks  to  the  Firft  Lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  and,  without  further  inquiry  the  thing  is  done; 
nobody  being  able  to  divine,  of  thofe  who  are  not  in  the  fecret, 
and  only  know  our  fon  Tom  profeffionally,  for  which  of  his 
good  qualities  or  meritorious  aBions  he  has  been  made,  fo 
much  out  of  his  turn,  and  over  the  heads  of  fo  many  old  and 
deferving  officers,  a  mafler  and  commander.  Here  then  is  a 
complete  job,  p::Ting  through  feveral  fucceffive  ftages,  and 
difgraceful  enough  in  its  progrefs  to  all  the  parties  concerned  in 
it,  including  the  member,  the  minifter,  and  the  firft  lord  of 
the  Admiralty,  but  certainly  not  <rjtcluding  the  conftituent,  the 
corrupt  conftituent,  who  is  no  member  of  the  government, 
high  or  low,  but  one  of  the  people,  and  the  prime  author  and 
mover  of  the  whole.  When  this  conftituent  fhall  hereafter 
reproach  his  member,  as  one  of  a  body  that  is  all  corrupt, 
compofed  of  perfons  who  think  of  nothing  but  their  own  in- 
terefts,  without  any  regard  to  the  intereft  of  the  country,  the 
member  may  poffibly  be  able  to  reply  :  "  The  moft  corrupt 
aft  I  ever  was  guilty  of,  was  that  fcandalous  job  by  which  I 
bought  your  vote  and  intereft,  when,  contrary  to  all  right  and 
juftice,  I  procured  your  fon  to  be  made  a  mafter  and  com- 
mander." 

We  have  here  the  hiftory  of  a  job,  which,  though  fpringing 
from  a  root,  that  lies  wholly  ameng  the  people,  is  fuppofed 
not  to  confine  itfelf  to  the  place  of  its  original  growth,  but  to 
extend  its  ftioots  into  the  parliament,  and  into  the  executive 
government.  With  a  view,  however,  of  fhewing  the  temper 
of  fome  of  thefe  declaimers  againft  abufes,  let  us  take  another 
cafe,  (not  more  difficult,  I  hope,  tobe  met  with),  where,  after 
inquiry  made,  either  the  member,  or  the  minifter,  or  the  firft 
lord  of  the  Admiralty,  has  virtue  enough  to  fay,  that  the  pre- 


/'  ■' 


h  'ii 


.  i 


-** 


X..      -^ 


.«■ 


f  I 


30 

tcnfionsand  merits  of  the  perfon  in  qucftion  are  fofmall,  and 
the  injufliceofpromotiDg  him  would  be  fo  great,  that  in  fpite 
of  all  the  wifh  that  one  of  them  neceffarily  has  to  promote  his 
own  fuccefs,  and  the  others  may  have  to  promote  the  fuccefs 
of  an  important  parliamentary  friend  and  adherent,  and  much 
as  it  may  even  be  their  duty  to  promote  by  all  honeft  means 
the  fuccefs  of  one,  whofe  condu£l  in  parliament  ii  likely  to 
be  what  they  think  right,  they  feel  it  impoflible  to  comply 
with  the  application  that  has  been  made.  Is  it  quite  certain 
is  it  quite  a  matter  of  courfe,  that  the  author  of  the  application 
this  invcigher  againft  the  corruptions  of  the  times,  is  fatisfied 
with  this  anfwer,  however  fully  explained  to  him  ;  that  he 
does  not  turn  away  with  a  fulky  look  from  his  late  friend,  and 
without  difputing  at  all  the  truth  of  the  reafons  on  which  the 
refufal  is  founded,  of  which  he  perhaps  is  better  aware  than 
any  other  perfon,  or  which  he  does  not  confider  as  being  any 
thing  to  the  purpofe,  that  he  does  not  fignify  in  plain  terms, 
that  his  rule  is  to  *  ferve  thofe  who  ferve  him;'  and  from  that 
moment  does  not  transfer  himfelf,  and  all  thofe  whofe  votes  he 
commands ^  to  the  other  fide,  taking  what  is  called  the  inde- 
pendent line,  and  exhibiting  himfelf  among  the  firft  bawlers 
againft  the  corruptions  of  the  great,  *  who  think  of  nothing 
but  their  own  intereft.' 

Here  at  Icaft  is  an  inftance  of  abufe,  (fuppofed  indeed,  but 
not  on  that  account  to  be  confidered  as  a  mere  creature  of 
the  imagination),  which,  while  it  begins  with  one  of  the  peo- 
ple, ends  there  likewife,and  does  not  touch  tbt  govtuimentor 
the  parliament  at  all.  And  fuch,  we  may  venture  to  affirm,  is 
the  cafe  of  nine- tenths,  or  rather  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the 
abufes  complained  of.  The  whole  country,  it  is  faid,  is  full  of 
abnfes,  from  top  to  bottom.  I  am  very  much  of  that  opinion ; 
with  this  correction,  that  the  defcription  would  be  more  juft  if  wc 
were  to  fay  from  bottom  to  top  ;  it  being  here,  with  this  float- 
ing mafs  of  abufes,  as  with  other  media,  the  parts  of  which 
are  left  to  move  freely,  that  ihejirata  are  denfer,  and  grofler, 
the  lower  you  defcend,  and  that  the  higheft  region  is  the 
purcft. 


> 


31 


We  have  already  feen  to  what  fource  may  be  traced  the 
greater  part  of  the  abufe  of  patronage,  an  abufe,  which  with 
the  others  is  to  be  cured,  I  fuppofe,  by  the  favourite  remedy, 
'•  an  extcnfion  of  the  reprcfentation,  that  is  to  fay,  by  multiplying 
a  hundredfold  the  chief  caufes  to  which  the  abufe  is  to  be  at 
prefent  afcribed.  But  if  of  this  the  far  greater  part  is  found 
to  lie  in  the  people  themfelves,  who  cannot  otherwife  be 
brought  to  fupport  the  very  government  which  they  thus  re- 
proach for  yielding  to  their  venality,  what  (hall  we  fay  of 
thofe  abufes,  more  properly  fo  called,  and  upon  which  the 
people  are  much  more  intent,  though  they  are  really  perhaps 
lefs  important,  viz.  the  various  inftances  of  fraud,  embezzle- 
ment, peculation,  and  impofition,  by  which  the  expenditure  of 
the  country  is  fwelled  far  beyond  its  natural  fize,  and  a  million 
or  two  pofTibly  taken  from  the  pockets  of  the  people,  over  and 
above  what  the  real  exigencies  of  the  country  require?  This 
is  the  part  that  we  chiefly  hear  of  ;  and  very  proper  it  is 
that  we  fhould  hear  of  it;  but  let  us  take  care  that  we  impute 
the  blame  to  the  right  quarter,  that  we  put  the  faddle  upon 
the  right  horfe. 

With  what  approach  to  truth  or  propriety  do  we  fpeak  of 
thefe  abufes,  as  abufes  in  the  government  ?  Who  are  the  per- 
fons  whom  wc  mean  to  defignate  under  the  name  of  Govern- 
ment ?  What  are  the  abufes  complained  of?  and  by  what 
defcription  of  perfons  are  they  committed  ?  Is  it  an  abufe  in 
the  government,  that  is,  in  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  and 
the  perfons  holding  high  offices,  including  if  you  pleafe  the 
Parliament,  that  a  flore-keeper,  or  commiffary,  in  the  Weft 
Indies,  or  in  Ceylon,  embezzles  the  public  ftores,  or  fends  in 
e  accounts,  by  which  the  public  is  defrauded  ?  Is  it  cor- 
[ioii  n  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  or  in  the  miniftry 
parliament  collectively,  that  grofs  frauds  are  daily  and 
hourly  practifed  on  the  revenue  ;  that  the  taxes  are  eluded  ; 
that  falfe  returns  are  made;  that  excife  and  cuftom-houfe 
oilicers  are  perpetually  bribed  to  betray  their  truft ;  that  the 
tril  cs  of  officers,  high  and  low,  at  home  and  abroad,  of  more 
denominations   than  can  be  enumerated,   which  an  empire 


ill  •■ 


tji 


)[ 


U.I 


«> 


....^ 


i 


I 


n 


\i 


1 1  > 


h 


32 

like  till*  h  obfigcdl  to  employ  in  its  fervice,  are  often  more  in- 
tent upon  advancing  their  own  fortunes,  than  upon  difchara- 
ing  their  duty  or  guarding  the  interefts  of  the  public ;  and 
that  all  thofe,  not  being  perfons  in  office,  with  whom  the  go- 
vernment  muft  occafionally  have  dealings,  have  no  confidera- 
tion,  but  how  to  make  the  mofl  they  can,  and  to  cheat  the 
public  by  every  means  in  their  power?  I  fliould  be  glad  to 
know,  how  many  of  thefe  arraigners  of  the  profufion  of  the 
government,  if  they  had  a  piece  of  land  to  fell  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  a  barrack  or  military  hofpital,  would  limit  the 
price  they  afked  by  any  other  confideration,  than  what  they 
thought  the  neceflity  of  the  cafe  would  compel  government 
to  give,  or  would  fcruple,  if  they  faw  any  profpect  of  fuccefs, 
to  bribe  the  barrack  mafter,  or  other  officer,  to  betray  his 
trufl,  and  contribute  to  give  effect  to  their  exactions.  It  is, 
in  the  firfl  place,  perfect  folly  to  talk  as  if  the  parliament  and 
the  government,  (the  parliament  being  a  body  that  neither  in 
fact  nor  theory  can  know  any  thing  of  the  matter,  and  th« 
government  confifling  of  fome  ten  or  twenty  perfons,  the 
members  of  the  cabinet,  and  a  few  of  the  heads  of  great  de- 
partments) can  be  refponfible  for  the  individual  conduct  of 
the  thoufands  and  thoufands  of  fubordinate  officers  and  agents, 
who  mull  be  employed  in  the  public  fervice,  and  who  are  dis- 
tributed, far  and  near,  through  all  parts  of  a  widely  extended  em- 
pire: to  fay  nothing  of  the  fact,that  the  greater  part  of  thefe  are 
obtruded  or  palmed  upon  the  government,  by  perfons  not  being 
themselves  in  any  office,  but  in  the  flrictefl  fenfe  a  part  of 
the  people,  and  who  are  thinking  of  nothing,  but  to  ferve,  by 
whatever  means,  their  own  friends  and  relations.  In  the 
next  place,  thefe  frauds,  committed  by  perfons  within  the  pale 
of  the  government,  are  for  the  mofl  part  of  a  fort,  that  imply  a 
confederate  without.  Like  other  acts  which  in  the  fyflem  of 
animal  life  cannot  well  be  difpenfed  with,  they  require  of  ne- 
ceffitytwo  parties.  If  the  excifeman  connives  at  the  frauds 
of  the  brewer  or  the  dillillcr,  it  is  the  difliller  and  brewer  by 
whom  he  is  bribed  to  do  fo.  If  the  cuflom-houfe  officer  per- 
mits falfe  entries,  and  allows  goods  to  be  imported  or  exported 
without  the  proper  duties,  and  thereby  affords  an  example  of 


83 

In  abufe  committed,  (if  any  one  chufe  fo  to  defcribe  it,)  by  orte 
of  the  government,  meaning  a  cuflom-houfe  officer,  what  arc 
we  to  Uy  of  the  merchant  or  trader,   by  whofe  bribe  he  has 
been  induced  to  do  this  ?  who*  it  cannot  be  disputed,  is  one  of 
the  people,  and  one  of  the  people  merely ;  and  very  poffibly, 
with  the  difliller,  brewer,  or  other  trader,  one  of  thofe  who 
think  that  the  country  can  never  thrive,  till  a  radical  reform 
ftall  have  put  an  end  to  abufes.     The  fact  is,  that  when  the 
matter  comes   to  be  fearched  to  the  bottom,  it  is  the  people 
throughout,  who  are  cheating  the  people ;  the  people  indi- 
vidually cheating  the  people  collectively,  and  then  finding  in 
their  own  frauds  and  knaveries  a  reafon  for  tearing  to  pieces 
the  government.  How  is  government  a  party  to  thefe  frauds  ? 
Even  in  refpect  to  patronage  ;  the  part  in  which  the  govern- 
ment,  properly  fo  called,  will  be  found  mofl  to  offend  ;  it  is 
not  afcribing  much  to  perfons,  at  the  head  of  departments,  to 
fuppofe,  that  when  their  own  immediate  connections  and  de- 
pendents are  fatisfied,  they  would  be  willing  to  promote  good 
men  rather  than  bad,  if  they  were  not  controlled  by  the  infa- 
tiable  demands  of  thofe,  whom  they  cannot  difoblige  without 
renouncing  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  public  fervice,  and 
who  never  think  for  a  moment  of  merit  or  demerit,  or  of  any 
thing  elfe,  but  of  providing  for  thofe,  whom,  for  fome  reafon 
or  other,    they  wifh  to  ferve.     So,  in  refpect  to  pecuniary 
abufe  or  wafle,  it  is  no  great  compliment  to  a  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  to  fuppofe  that  he  is  defirous  of  making  the 
taxes  as  productive  a«  poffible.    We  need  not  look  to  his  vir* 
tue  or  fenfe  of  duty  as  a  fecurity  for  this  endeavour.     His 
own  interefl  will  be  a  fufficient  pledge,  and  particularly  that 
interefl  which  it  is  mofl  the  fafhion  to  throw  in  the  teeth  of 
public  men,  namely,  the  defire  of  keeping  his  place.     The 
crime  of  government,  therefore,  in  almofl  all  thefe  inffances, 
is  that  of  not  being  able,  with  all  its  efforts,  animated  even 
with  the  flrongefl  fenfe  of  fel f-interefl,  to  prevent  the  crimes 
of  others.     The  people  in  all  quarters  and  by  all  opportuni* 
ties  are  preying  upon  the  public,  and  then  make   it  the  re- 
proach of  the  government  that  it  has  not  the  power  to  prevent 
them.    Such  a  reproach  might,  it  is  confefsed,  be  well  found- 

F 


I 


* 


■%/ 


^/-•l 


V 


/-  ' 


\        — 


*\ 


til 


84 

ed,  if  a  failure  in  flie  pCfformance  of  thit  talk  on  the  pirt  of 
government,  proceeded  from  neglect,  remiirnefs,  or  want  of 
proper  zeal.  But  befides  that  intereft,  as  was  before  obferv- 
cd,  concurs  here  with  duty,  let  us  see  how  the  matter  ftands, 
on  a  confideration  of  what  would  be  in  the  power  of  govern- 
ment, fuppofing  exertion  to  be  pufhed  to  the  utmoft. 

What  is  the  fenfe  of  fuppofing  that  government  muft  be 
able  to  do  with  refpect  to  the  public,  what  no  man  is  able  to  do 
in  his  own  affairs  and  family  ?  Who  is  there  that  can  boaft  to 
have  eftabliftied  a  fyftem  of  superintendance  fo  complete,  or  to 
be  bleffed  with  a  fet  of  fcrvants  of  fuch  rare  honefty  and  fo 
attached  to  his  intereft,  as  not  to  leave  him  a  prey  to  innume- 
rable  abufes,  greater  or  left,  in:  his  Aables,  his  flill-room,  hit 
kitchen,  his  butler's  pantry,  in  every  department  in  (hortof 
his  houfehold  ?  If  this  is  the  cafe  of  men  acting  in  the  ma- 
nagement of  their  own  private  affairs,  and  quickened  by  every 
motive  of  felf  intereft,  and  may  be  predicated  with  truth  pro- 
bably  of  every  domeftic  eftablifhment  in  the  kingdom,  down 
even  to  the  moft  limited,  what  (hall  we  fay  of  the  reafonable- 
nefs  of  the  expectation,  that  any  zeal  or  ftrictness  in  thirty  or 
forty  perfons,  (or  in  ten  times  that  number,)  who  can  be  de* 
fcribed  with  any  propriety  as  forming  the  executive  govern- 
ment, fhall  be  able  to  exclude  abufes  from  the  innumerable 
fubordinate  departments,  over  which  they  are  to  prefide,  and 
which  extend  over  half  the  globe?  The  amount  of  abufe,  be 
it  obferved,  incident  to  eftablifhments,  does  not  increafe 
merely  with  the  fize  of  the  eftablifhment,  so  as  for  the  abufe 
in  larger  eftablifhments  to  bear  the  fame  proportion  only  to  the 
eftablifhment  itfelf,  as  it  does  in  fmaller  ones;  it  rifes  at  a 
much  greater  rate:  firft,  becaufe  the  fuperintending  power, 
thcflumber  of  perfons  having  a  direct  intereft  in  the  well-be. 
ing  of  the  whole,  cannot  be  multiplied  in  the  proportion  of  the 
eftablifhment :  fecondly,  becaufe  the  parts  are  further  remov- 
ed from  obfervation ;  thirdly,  on  account  of  the  complication 
and  mixture  of  interefts,  which  increafe  the  combinationsiar 
beyond  the  increafe  of  the  number  of  objects ;  and  laftly, 
from  the  greater  laxity  apt  to  prevail  in  refpect  to  frauds  upon 


35 

large  funds,  compared  with  fomething  of  ftricter  feeling 
which  may  be  hoped  for  towards  funds  more  limited.  We 
fee  every  day  what  a  total  careleffnefs  there  is  in  the  expendi- 
ture of  money,  which,  being  money  of  the  puhlic,  feems  to 
belong  to  nobody.  This  indifference  about  expending,  will 
be  attended  with  a  correfpondent  want  of  scruple  in  appro- 
priating.  As  the  fcale  of  expenditure  becomes  larger,  the 
injury  fuftained  by  the  ftate  from  the  lofs  or  mif-application 
of  any  particular  fum  becomes  lefs  perceptible ;  and  men  yield 
with  more  facility  to  the  argument,  that  what  is  great  to  them 
is  little  tothe  country,  and  will  never  be  mifsed.  This  is  the  mo- 
rality, I  fear,  of  a  large  portion  ot  the  nation,  and  I  am  fureis  not 
leaft  found,  as  far  as  any  obfervation  of  mine  ever  went,  in  thofe 
who  would  pafs  themfelves  off  as  the  only  perfons,  zealous  for 
the  rights,  or  authorized  to  fpeak  thefentiments,  of  the  people. 
Yet  with  a  fyftem  of  public  probity  thus  relaxed,  iu  the 
midft  of  a  nation  thus  difpofed  to  prey  upon  itfelf,  and  upon  a 
fcale  of  expenditure  like  that  which  muft  of  neceffity  prevail 
in  an  empire  extended  as  ours  now  is,  it  is  thought  a  reafon 
for  breaking  up  the  government,  that  it  cannot  exclude  abufes 
from  our  eftablifhments,  to  a  degree  which  few  perfons  find 
attainable,  in  the  management  even  of  their  own  domeflic  con- 
cerns. It  is  our  bufinefs,  no  doubt,  to  keep  thofe  abufes  as 
Jow  as  poffible  ;  and  the  more  corrupt  the  public  is,  the  more 
are  fuch  exertions  neceffary  ;  but,  let  us  not  complain  that  we 
do  not  attain  what  is  not  attainable,  and  above  all  let  us  under- 
lland  the  fact  truly,  that  the  corruptions  charged  are,  except 
in  a  few  inconfiderable  inflances,  not  the  corruptions  of  the 
government,  but  the  corruptions  of  the  people  which  the  go- 
vernment is  unable  to  prevent. 

Having  thus  far  examined  the  nature  of  the  charges,  let  us 
inquire  a  little  whether  there  is  any  thing  which  we  are  bound 
to  yield  to  the  authority  of  thofe,  by  whom  they  are  brought 
forward.  I  do  not  know  why  the  members  of  this  houfe,  or 
of  any  other  body,  are  to  ftand  quietly  by,  and  hear  themfelves 
iligmatized  collectively  with  all  forts  of  opprobrious  epithets, 
which  they  do  not  feel  individually  to  deferve,  without  fo  far 


;''♦• 


-#'1-*^ 


/.' 


t\ 


36 

retaliating  upon  their  revilcrs,  as  to  afk  ivith  fubmiffion,  who 
they  are,  who  by  ihus  dealing  out  their  invectives  to  the  right 
and    left,   feem  to  arrogate  to  therafelves  the  character  of 
being  the  only  honeft  men  in  the  kingdom.     We  want  to 
know  a  little  upon  what  they  found  their  pretenfions.     After 
defending  ourfelves  as  well  as  we  can,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
exert  a  portion  of  the  freedom,   which  they  fo  largely  take 
with  us,  and  requeft  to  be  informed,  what  are  the  pledget 
which  they  have  given,  what  the  facrifices  which  they  hive 
made,  as  vouchers  for  this  integrity  and  public  fpirit.  which 
they  feem  to  confider  as  to  be  found  no  where  but  with  them, 
felves  ?     A  reputation   for  patriotifm  feems  to  require  for 
the  attainment  of  it  lefs  than  is  neceflary  for  the  acquifition 
of  any  other  object,  however  trivial.     Nothing  feems  to  be 
requifite,  but  the  afTurance  which  gets  up  and  fays,  1  am  the 
only  honefl  man,  all  others  are  rogues.     Indeed,  the  former 
part  of  the  declaration,  the  teftimonial  given  by  the  party 
to  his  own  integrity,  feems  hardly  to  be  called   for :  if  the 
abufe  of  others  be  fufficiently  loud  and  general,  the  honefty 
of  the  perfon  himfclf  is  affumed  as  matter  of  courfe.     No 
trial  or  examination  is  neceffary,  no  previous  flock  of  repu- 
tation, no  evidence  from  former  conduct ;  the  trade  of  a  pa- 
triot, like  that  of  an  attorney  or  apothecary,  is  of  the  clafs  of 
thofe  which  may  be  fet  up  without  capital.     I  ihould  be  glad 
to  know,  for  inftance,   what  are  the  facrifices  which  have 
ever  been  made  by  the  honourable  baronet  (fir  Francis  Bur- 
dett)  as  the  foundation  of  that  high  tone  which  he  afTumes 
with  refpect  to  all   unfortunate  public  men  who  have  ever 
been  in  office.     I  am  far  from  meaning  to  infmuate,  (I  have 
no  fact  to  warrant  the  infinuation)  that  the  honourable  ba- 
ronet would  not  be  ready  at  anytime,   to  make  all  the  facri. 
fices  to  his  principles  that  could  be  called  for:  he  might  or 
he  might  not:  but  1  mean  to  fay,  that  none  fuch  having  been 
called  for,  none  have  in  point  of  fact  been    made.     On  the 
contrary  it  has  fo  happened   that  the  honourable  baronet  hai 
got  by  his  patriotifm,  by  the  natural,  fpontaneous.  (unlooked- 
for  if  you  pleafe,)  effects  of  his  patriotifm,  all  that  many  men 
have  been  willing  to  obtain,  or  have  purfued  without  obtain. 


St 

ing,  at  the  expencc  of  half  their  fortunes.  By  this  no  credit 
may  have  been  loft  to  the  honourable  baronet,  but  none  can 
be  gained.  Virtue  can  only  be  proved  by  trials  and  facri- 
ISces.  A  man  cannot  fhew  his  difintereftednefs  by  what  he 
gets,  however  honeflly  he  may  come  by  it.  No  one  furely 
will  pay  fo  ill  a  compliment  to  the  honourable  baronet,  or  to 
the  country,  as  to  give  for  a  proof  of  rare  and  diftinguifhed 
virtue,  that  he  has  never  afked  a  favour  of  any  minifter  either 
for  himfelf  or  for  a  friend.  How  many  might  make  the 
fame  boaft  ;  who  yet  never  thought  of  inveighing  againft  all 
the  reft  of  the  world  as  corrupt  and  diftioneft.  And  after  all 
what  does  the  boaft  amount  to  ?  With  refpect  to  friends, 
the  praife  is  rather  equivocal.  A  man  may  happen  to  have 
no  one,  who  is  at  once  capable  of  being  ferved  by  place  or 
appointment,  and  for  whom  he  is  particularly  anxious.  And 
as  to  office  for  himfelf,  is  it  known  that  the  oflf'er  was  ever 
made  to  the  honourable  baronet?  or  that  he  himfelf  ever 
wiflied  it  ?  With  a  large  fortune,  and  all  the  comforts  and 
pleafures  of  life  before  him,  he  may  never  have  thought  the 
pride  or  power  of  office  a  compenfation  for  its  cares  and 
conftraints,  or  even  for  the  privilege  which  he  now  enjoys 
(and  is  not  fparing  in  the  ufe  of)  of  railing  at  thofe  whofe 
opinions  and  feelings  upon  that  point  have  been  different 
from  his  own.  The  merit  of  facrificing  office  can  alone  bo 
found  among  thofe,  for  whom  office  has  charms;  and  upon 
that  principle  the  honourable  baronet  muft  not  be  furprized, 
though  in  other  refpects  he  will  no  doubt,  if  I  look  for  proofs 
of  political  virtue,  to  be  contrafted  to  any  on  his  part,  in 
quarters  from  which  he  would  turn  with  fcorn,  as  from  the 
very  hot-beds  of  all  corruption. 

What  will  the  friends  of  the  honourable  baronet  fay,  when 
they  hear  me  quote  for  my  inftance,  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Pitt  f 
The  general  career  of  Mr.  Pitt's  political  life,  and  his  admi- 
niftration  of  the  affairs  of  this  country,  during  the  great  crifis 
in  which  he  latterly  acted,  I  perhaps  as  little  approve  as  the 
honourable  baronet  can  do ;  though  for  reafons  altogether 
different :  but  one  of  the  very  charges  which  many  might 


i^ 


tf 


t  A 


J 


I 


i ' 


58 

bringdgainftMr.  Pitt,  ^1  mean  his  love  of  power,)  is  the  pledge 
of  his  merit  in  the  inflance  to  which  1  am  alluding,  I  mean  hit 
refignation  of  power  in  the  year  i8oi.     It  is  no  reproach  to 
Mr.  Pitt  to  fay  that  he  was  an  ambitious   man.     It  may  be 
fomething  of  a  reproach,  though  I  am  afraid  the  fact  is  true 
that  his  ambition  (bowed  itfelf  too  much   in  love  of  power 
and  office.     The  habits,  in  fact,  of  official  life  had  begun  fo 
early  with  him  and  continued  fo  long,  that  they  muft  have 
become  a  fort  of  fecond  nature  ;  place  and  power  were  al- 
moft  among  the  necefTaries  of  life  to  him  ;  yet  with  all  thofe 
feelings  upon  him,  original  and  acquired  ;  with  a  pofTeffion 
of  power,  longer  enjoyed  and  more  firmly  eftabliffied  than 
can  be  found  poffibly  in  any  other  inftance,  not  excepting 
that  of  fir  Robert  Walpole;   with  a  perception  as  quick,  as 
man  ever  had,  of  what  was  likely  to  be  ufeful  or  prejudicial 
to  him  in  any  political  ftep  ;    Mr.   Pitt  did  not   hefitate  in 
withdrawing  from  office,  at  the  period  alluded  to,  the  moment 
he  found  it  could  be  no  longer  held,  but  upon   terms  incon- 
fiftent,  as  he  thought,  with  his  duty,  and  derogatory  from  his 
character.      It  it  in  vain  to   fay,    that  this   might   not  be 
an  act  of  pure  virtue,  but  be  mixed  up  with  feelings  of 
fliame,  or  pride,  or.  policy,  or  others  of  that  fort*     There 
is   no  end  of  fuch  objections ;    which,    after  all,  can  make 
no   difference    here,     where   we   are   upon  a   queflion    of 
(jomparifon  ;   fince,  if  admitted  at  all,  they  muft  appear  equal- 
ly on  both  fides  of  the  account.     It  isjuft  as  eafy  to  fay,  that 
the  honourable  barbnct  in  the  courfe  which  he  has  purfued, 
has  acted  with  a  view  to  what  he  has  got,  as  that  Mr.  Pitt  on 
the  occafion   alluded  to,  acted  with  a  view  to  what  he  did 
not  get.     The  exact   meafure  of  virtue  that  enters  into  any 
act,  can  be   known  only  to   the  Searcher  of  all  hearts  :   Wc 
muft   be  content   to  take   for  virtue  what   contains  all  the 
ufual  indications  of  it,  and  produces  all  the  effects.     There 
if  no  reafon  to  fufpect  the  facrifice  thus  made  by  Mr.  Pitt,  to 
be  lefs  genuine  than  it  purports  to  be.     He  did  not  facrifice 
what  he  did  not  highly  value  :    and  no  man  was  more  likely 
to  forefee  (what    the  event  proved,)  that  minifterial  power, 
which  owes  so  much  to  the  length  of  its  contmiiance,  could 


r 


39 

hardly,  after  an  interruption,  be  ever  completely  reftored  t« 
what  it  was  before.  The  honourable  baronet,  I  have  no 
doubt,  had  the  occafion  been  offered,  would  equally  have 
(bewB  that  perfonal  con fi derations  had  no  weight  with  him, 
when  placed  in  competition  with  the  calls  of  duty,  or  even 
with  thofe  of  honeft  fame.  But  the  opportunity,  as  far  as  I 
am  aware,  has  never  been  afforded  him  ;  and  no  one  can  be 
allowed  to  claim  the  fame  credit  for  what  he  has  only  intended 
and  believed  himfelf  capable  of  doing,  as  others  for  what  they 
have  actually  done. 

Upon  the  whole  of  this  fubject  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
great,  we  may  venture  to  fay,  that  be  their  virtue  what  it 
may,  it  is  at  leaft  at  par  with  that  of  the  perfons  by  whom  it  is 
arraigned.  There  are  very  few  men  in  public  life,  who 
could  not,  if  they  thought  it  worth  while,  if  they  could  bring 
themfelves  to  be  proud  of  merit  fo  little  rare,  quote  inftances 
of  facrifices  which  they  had  made — to  duty,  to  point  of  ho- 
nour^ to  eftimation  of  friends,  to  party  fpirit,  if  you  pleafe, 
but  to  fomething  far  fuperior  to  the  mere  fordid  defire  of  profit 
or  emolument, — to  which  the  greater  part  of  these  patriotic 
declaimers  could  not  only  fhew  nothing  parallel  in  their  own 
conduct,  but  which  they  would  not,  as  far  as  related  to 
themfelves,  dream  even  to  be  poffible. 

So  much  for  this  great  topic  of  Abiifes,  which  is  now 
made  the  foundation  ftone  of  the  fyftem,  and  gives  to  the  au- 
thors of  the  fyftem  all  that  w^as  wifhed  by  the  philofo» 
pher  of  old,  when,  in  order  to  move  the  world  from  its 
bafis,  he  afked  for  nothing  but  a  place  whereon  to  fix  hi» 
machine.  By  far  the  greater  portion  of  abufes,  even  of 
thofe  which  do  finally  reach  the  goveriftnent,  proceed  from 
the  people  themfelves.  They  are  the  bribes  which  govern- 
ment pays  to  the  people,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  prevent 
them  from  pulling  the  government  to  pieces.  This  is  more 
efpecially  exemplified  in  that  worft  and  moft  pernicious  fpe- 
cies  of  abufes,  though  by  far  the  leaft  complained  of,  the 
abufa  of  patronage.     But  the  great  mafs  of  abufe,  that  which 


|.    iilll 


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Pi 


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h 


I 
'1^ 


'I 


40 

forms  nine-tenths,  at  Icaft,  or,  more  probably,  nincty-nintf 
hundredths  of  the  whole,  and  which  alone  directly  affects 
the  pockets  of  the  people,  both  begins  and  ends  with  the 
people,  and  confifts  of  the  frauds,  impofitions,  embezzle* 
mcnts,  and  peculations,  committed  by  the  tribes  of  officers 
high  and  low  ;  (with  the  exception  only  of  the  higheft  ;  j  who 
though  employed  under  the  government,  can  fiill,  in  tio  ra. 
tional  view,  be  confidered  otherwife  than  as  part  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  as  well  as  by  all  thofe,  who,  not  being  in  any,  even 
the  moft  fubordinate  office,  have  Rill  occafional  dealings 
with  the  public,  or  opportunities  in  fomc  way  or  other  of 
turning  its  intercfts  to  their  account. 

The  mode  propofed  for  putting  a  flop  to  thefe  abufes,  is  to 
reform  the  parliament  ;  that  is  to  fay.  to  have  a  fcheme  of  re. 
prefeniation,  in  which,  the  elections  being  more  popular,  the 
parliament  (hould  iffue  more  directly  from  the  general  mafs 
of  the  people,  and  a  larger  portion  of  it  in  confequence  be  like- 
ly to  confift  of  perfons  taken   from  the  lower  orders,  the 
country  in  the  mean  while,  by  the  increafed  number  of  com- 
petitors, and  by  the  means  through  which  they  mud  hope  to 
fucceed,  being  thrown  into  an  additional  ferment.     The  plan, 
with  a  view  to  its  profefTed  object,  cannot  be  faid  either  to 
promife  much  or  to  be  chofen  with  very  peculiar  felicity.    It 
is  not  an  obvious  way,  for  making  the  liquor  run  clear,  to 
give  a  (hake  to  the  cafk  and  to  bring  up  as  much  as  poffible 
from  the  parts  neareft  the  bottom.     Could  it  be  believed, 
without  proof  from  the  fact,  that  men  could  be  found  feri- 
oufly  to  indulge  fpeculations  fo  deftitute  of  every  foundation 
in  reafon  or  common  fenfe  ?  The  reform  wanted,  for  the  pur- 
pofes  faid  to  be  intended,  is  either  a  reform  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, which  it  is  childifli  to  hope,  or  a  reform  in  the  govern- 
ment,  by  arming  it  with  fuch  new  powers,  as  might  indeed 
•nfwer  the  end  propofed,  but  would  in  the  mean  time  be 
wholly  incompatible  with  the  nature  of  our  free  conflitution. 

There  arc  but  three  ways  in  which  mankind  can  be  go^ 
vcrned ;  by  their  virtues,  their  interefts,  or  their  fears.     To 


3-i 


int 


41 

be  able  to  govern  men  by  their  fenfe  and  their  virtues  is  un- 
queftionably  the  beft  of  all.  If  men  will  be  ready  always  to 
fupport  gratuitoufly  what  they  think  right,  and  oppofe  nothing 
but  what  they  confcientioufly  believe  to  be  wrong,  the  tafk  of 
government  would  comparatively  be  eafy,  and  corruption 
without  excufe.  The  minifter  would  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  choofe  right  meafures  ;  and  the  merit  of  the  meafure  might 
be  expected  to  carry  it  through.  But  if  the  fact  fhould  be, 
that  there  are  numbers  who  cannot  be  brought  to  fupport 
even  what  they  themfclves  approve,  without  being  paid  for  it, 
and  who,  if  they  have  not  been  fo  paid,  or  think  they  can  get 
better  payment  elfewhere  (whether  that  payment  confift  in 
place,  or  money,  or  popular  applaufe,  or  the  gratification  of 
fome  malignant  or  felfilh  paflion,)  will  combine  and  cabal, 
and  create  every  fort  of  obftruction  and  impediment,  there  is 
then  no  other  way,  in  a  free  government,  for  the  purpofe  of 
carrying  on  the  public  fervice,  but  to  gain  over  fuch  perfons 
by  their  interefts,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  time,  is  to  be 
guilty  of  corruption  ;  but  a  corruption  furely  of  which  the 
guilt  cannot  fairly  be  charged  on  the  government. 

In  governments  indeed  of  another  fort,  fuch  as  that  which 
makes  fo  confpicuous  a  figure  in  the  prefent  times,  I  mean 
the  government  of  Buonaparte,  the  cafe  is  altogether  diffe- 
rent ;  and  no  more  neceffity  exifts  for  corruption  under  fuch 
a  rule  than  in  a  nation  of  men  perfectly  wife  and  virtuous. 
He  (Buonaparte)  is  under  no  neceffity  to  bribe  men's  con- 
currence to  meafures  that  are  for  the  intereft  of  the  country, 
and  has,  moreover,  methods  far  more  effectual  than  any 
which  free  countries  pofless,  to  prevent  the  abufes  arifing 
from  fraud,  or  peculations.  A  man  who  could  hang  without 
ceremony  a  cuftom-houfe  officer  who  (hould  be  found  con- 
niving at  any  fraud  on  the  revenue,  and  hang  or  fend  to  the 
gallies  the  merchant  who  (liould  bribe  him  to  fuch  conni- 
vance, may  be  pretty  fure  of  confining  within  reafonable 
bounds  all  abufes  of  that  defcription.  The  fame  will  be  the 
cafe  with  any  other  fpecies  of  abufe.  But  how,  in  countries 
where  conduct  is  free,  men  can.be  prevented  from  felling 


II' 


•^•# 


^ 


i  i 


\  i 


II 


42 

that,  which  they  will  not  confent  to  give,  or  how,  where  law 
is  formal  and  fcrupulous,  and  befet  on  all  fides  with  guards 
and  defences  for  the  protection  of  innocence,  it  can  be  made 
to  retain,  in  all  cafes,  fufficient  celerity  for  the  overtaking 
of  guilt,  are  problems,  with  which  the  authors  of  thefc  com- 
plaints never  feem  to  trouble  themfelves.  They  call  boldly 
and  loudly  for  the  fuppreflionof  abufes;  and  if  the  fupprefTing 
abufes  was  the  only  object  to  be  attended  to,  the  talk  would  be 
eafy.  There  is  a  government  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  fame 
to  which  I  have  jufl  alluded,  that  .tells  us  how  that  work  is  to 
be  done.  I  will  pay  fo  much  homage  to  Buonaparte's  go- 
vernment as  to  fay,  that  it  either  is,  or  may  be,  one  of  the 
mofl  free  from  abufes  of  any  that  ever  exiiled.  But  will  the 
clamourers  for  this  falutary  reformation  be  content  to  have  it 
upon  the  fame  terms  ?  We  have  feen  already,  what  the  na- 
ture of  the  greater  part  of  thefe  abufes  is,  and  from  what 
fource  they  fpring.  And  do  not  let  us  take  this  upon  truft. 
Let  thofe  who  doubt,  go  into  the  inquiry,  and  examine,  one 
by  one,  the  inflances  in  which  they  complain  that  the  public 
money  has  been  transferred  wrongfully  into  the  pockets  of 
individuals,  or  the  public  patronage  perverted,  and  fee  what 
the  utmoft  extent  is  of  that  portion,  which  has  been  appropri- 
ated to  the  interefts  of  minifters,  or  of  thofe  for  whom  they 
were  perfonally  anxious. 

Upon  this  iffue  we  may  fuffer  the  queftion  to  reft,  confi- 
dered  as  part  of  a  general  fyftem,  which  aims  at  a  great  change 
in  the  conftitutiou  (a  fubverfion  of  it  as  I  ftiould  fay)  under 
the  name  of  reform,  and  grounds  the  neceffity  of  fuch  reform 
upon  the  extent  and  number  of  the  fubfifting  abufes.  It  re- 
mains only  that  we  fay  a  few  words  upon  the  more  narrow 
view  of  the  fubject  as  introduced  by  the  honourable  mover. 

The  direct  end  and  object  of  the  motion,  as  we  collect  from 
fome  paffages  in  his  fpecch,|hc  fpecific  effect  which  ha  means 
to  produce,  is  that  of  erecting  a  barrier  to  the  too  great  influx 
into  this  houfe  of  the  monied  intereft.  The  means  propofcd 
arc  fuch  u  cannot  but  beap|)rovcd,  if  the  dcfcription  of  them 


i.i 


i 


43 

be  true,  viz.  that  they  confift  entirely  in  the  correction  of  a 
practice  which  is  in  the  higheft  degree  corrupt.  The  confe- 
quences,  as  ufual  in  all  cafes  where  new  remedies  are  ad- 
vertifed,  are  to  extend  far  beyond  the  removal  of  the  imme- 
diate complaint,  and  to  benefit  the  conftitution  in  a  thoufand 
different  ways.  It  happens  whimfically  that  the  primary  ob- 
ject of  the  mover,  (a  pretty  important  one,  and  requiring,  one 
fhould  think,  a  good  deal  of  nice  confideration),  namely  the 
altering  the  balance  between  the  landed  and  the  monied  intereft, 
fccms  to  be  no  object  at  all  with  thofe  to  whom  the  motion  is 
principally  addreffed,  and  not  much  indeed  to  the  honourable 
mover,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  fraall  portion  which  it  has 
occupied  of  his  fpeech.  It  flips  in  almoft  by  parenthefis. 
It  is  loft  and  hid,  in  the  fplendourof  the  incidental  advantages 
which  the  motion  is  to  bring  with  it,  in  the  confidence  it  is  to 
reftore,  the  unanimity  it  is  to  infpire,  the  heats  it  is  to  allay,  the 
effect  it  is  to  have  in  filencing  gainfayers,  the  foundation  it  is 
to  lay  of  a  new  and  glorious  era,  from  the  commencement  of 
which  nothing  will  be  known  throughout  the  country  but  one 
fpirit  of  loyalty  and  patriotifm,  and  a  determination  to  live  and 
die  by  the  conftitution.  What  a  pity  that  profpects  fo  bright, 
and  which  my  honourable  friend  contemplates  with  fuch  un- 
fpeakable  fatisfaction,  (hould  be  fo  foon  obfcured !  Never  was 
hope  fo  fanguine,  fo  fuddenly  blafted!  It  is  nipped  in  its  firft 
bud.  It  does  not  live  to  the  fecol^d  reading.  It  is  configned 
to  the  tomb  almoft  at  the  moment  of  its  birth. 


i( 


Oh  just  beloved  and  lost,  admired  and  mourned  !' 


This  medicine,  which  was  to  produce  fuch  wonderful  ef- 
fects, which  was  to  operate  like  a  charm,  fo  comfortable  in 
the  ftomach,  fo  exhilarating  to  the  fpirits,  fo  reftorative  of  all 
the  vital  functions,  has  totally  falfified  the  firft  affurance  re- 
fpeciing  it,  namely,  that  it  would  be  very  pleafant  to  the  tafte. 
What  it  may  be  in  the  ftomach,  or  afterwards,  we  cannot  well 
fay  ;  for  thofe  for  whofe  fpecial  ufe  it  was  intended,  who  were 
to  feize  it  fo  greedily,  find  it  fo  little  pleafant  that  they  will 
not  fuffer  it  to  remain  within  their  lips ;   but  fpit  it  out  upon 


% 


"     4  ■' 


V 


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■"I 


u 


11 


1 1 


44 

the  hands  of  my  honourable  friend,  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  is  in  the  act  of  adminiflering  it. 

Much  ufeful  inflruction  and  information  may  be  derived 
from  this  fact  as  well  to  my  honourable  friend  as  to  ourfelves. 
My  honourable  friend,  I  hope,  will  learn  a  leflbn,  of  great 
utility  to  all  reformers,  to  diftruft  a  little  the  more  remote 
confequences  of  their  meafures,  when  they  fee  how  liable  they 
are  to  error,  even  in  thofe  which  they  expect  to  take  place 
immediately.  The  houfe,  it  is  hoped,  will  learn  this  diftruft 
with  refpect  to  the  meafure  now  propofed.  It  is  no  great 
recommendation  of  any  medicine  that  its  effects  are  totally 
miftaken  by  the  perfon  who  advifes  it.  All  our  confidence 
in  the  phyfician  is  already  loft.  The  only  certain  knowledge 
which  we  have,  as  yet,  of  the  meafure,  is,  that  it  will  not  do 
what  the  honourable  mover  prrdicted  of  it.  It  will  not  fa- 
tisfy  thofe,  who  at  prefent  inveigh  againft  the  abufes  of  the 
fyftem,  and  contend  that  it  ought  to  be  reformed.  On  the 
contrary,  they  fay  that  this  meafure,  unlefs  accompanied 
with  others  far  more  extenfive,  will  only  make  things  worfe. 

I  have  already  endeavoured  to  fliow  that  the  practice  meant 
to  be  corrected,  has  no  crime  in  it  abftractedly  confidered  ; 
that  it  is  not  a  malum  in  ic.  It  is  culpable  only  as  it  may  be 
made  so  by  law,  or  as  it  may  practically  be  found  to  produce 
effects  injurious  to  the  public  intereft.  When  opinion  out 
of  doors  is  urged  as  a  reafon  for  adopting  it,  the  anfwer  is, 
that  opinion  out  of  doors,  fuch  as  is  here  in  queftion,  is  a  very 
bad  reafon  for  adopting  any  meafure,  inafmuch  as  there  can 
hardly  be  a  worfe  criterion  of  what  is  really  for  the  public 
benefit;  and  that,  after  all,  the  public  opinion  does  not  call 
for  this  meafure  feparately  and  unaccompanied  with  certain 
others,  which  the  honourable  mover  himfeU  would  declare 
that  he  does  not  wifh  to  fee  take  place.  The  inducements, 
therefore,  to  a  compliance  with  the  prefent  motion  lie  in  a 
very  fniall  compafs  indeed.  They  are  limply  its  own  merits  ; 
for,  as  to  the  fplendid  incidental  confequences  dwelt  upon 
with  fuch  rapture  by  the  honourable  mover,  they  are  all  at  an 


>l 


45 

end  already.  There  will  be  no  fatisfaction  produced.  What 
is  called  the  public  will  not  thank  you  for  the  meafure,  other- 
wife  than  as  it  may  be  made  a  fubjcct  of  triumph  and  a  ftep- 
ping-ftone  to  other  objects.  The  objections  to  it  on  the 
other  hand,  are  the  dangers  of  this  triumph,  and  of  thofe  other 
objects  to  which  it  is  meant  to  lead. 

Upon  the  refult  of  thefe  oppofite  confiderations,  firft  exa- 
mined feparately,  and  then  compared  together,  1  have  no  he- 
fitation  in  earneftly  conjuring  the  houfe  not  to  adopt  the  mo- 
tion. The  practice  complained  of  has  subfifted  at  all  times, 
without  any  ground  to  fufpect,  or  any  fufpicion  being  in  fact 
entertained,  that,  according  to  the  difcovery  now  made,  it  has 
been  fapping  and  undermining  the  conftitution-  The  reafons 
in  fupport  of  the  meafure  now  propofed  for  the  abolition  of 
the  practice  are  perfectly  unfatisfactory  and  inconclufive. 
We  know  the  mifchievous  ufe  intended  to  be  made  of  it ;  and 
there  can  hardly  indeed  be  any  thing  more  mifchievous  in 
the  firft  inftance,  than  the  yielding  to  public  clamour,  what 
we  do  not  feel  that  we  are  yielding  to  truth  and  reafon. 


THE    END. 


T.  C.  Hansard,  Printer,  Peterborough-Court,  Heel-»ireei,  London. 


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